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In late March/early April of this year, I visited Portugal. Now I have finally to come round to writing about it, as I have been promising to.

First obvious question: Why Portugal? No reason in particular. Well, apart from it being cheap and convenient – as it happened, I only had to pay for the air tickets. I wouldn’t have gone otherwise – there are a few dozen other countries and regions higher up on my to-go list both globally (e.g. China, India), and even in the Mediterranean (e.g. Italy, Greece, Israel). But obviously I was not going to say no to this, so off I flew to Lusitania.

This post is split into two parts.

The first part recounts my general impressions of Portugal. There are quite a few of them, but this Tweet I wrote on my first day there can still serve as a tldr:

The second part has more details and photos about the specific places I visited. These were unfortunately limited to just the Algarve and Lisbon. We did not visit Portugal’s second city Porto (famous for its port and vinho verde), nor Portugal’s ancient capital of Evora. Still, Lisbon and the Algarve account for approximately half the demographic weight of the country, so it’s a decent enough survey.

Now might also be a good time to mention that I will be going to Romania on June 1-11 for a friend’s wedding (two days in Ploiesti, three days in Brasov/Transylvania, and the rest of the time in Bucharest). Posting will be light during that period – hope nothing major happens in the world during that time. I will of course have an HBD-aware account of the Romania trip up in time as well.

***

Portugal: Impressions

***

Demographics

The skin hues of the native Portuguese range from almost as dark as you would find in India, to as light as any in Europe (although the eyes are almost always dark).

Lisbon Metro.

On my flight from Moscow to Lisbon, we were accompanied by a children’s football team. I noticed they all tended towards the darker end of the spectrum. My admittedly very tangential impression was that darker skin was correlated with more blue-collar occupations.

The numbers of non-European foreigners in Lisbon and the Algarve (primarily Negroes and Indians) was approximately similar to what you see in Moscow (Central Asians and Caucasians), though far less than in London.

My understanding is that many of the Negroes were (1) displaced post-colonial elites, or (2) Angolans whose oil wealth has enabled them to snap up large chunks of the Portuguese economy. I gather that they are higher quality immigrants than is usual from Africa, and do not constitute much of a criminal factor.

One little known fact about Portugal is that there are many Indians – you see them almost as often as you do in Britain. The colony of Goa, which used to be Portuguese, was annexed by India in a two day war in 1961. Salazar cut off diplomatic relations with India, and allowed any Goans who wanted to emigrate to Portugal to do so – consequently, many Portuguese-Indians and Catholic Indians did just that, and today there are about 70,000 Luso-Indians in Portugal. They have integrated very well; I suspect they might be richer than the average Portuguese.

Relations between Portugal and India were only restored in 1974 after the end of the Estado Novo in the face of fierce conservative opposition.

***

Language

One popular joke is that Portuguese is like Spanish but with a Russian accent.

I can see how the stereotype came about. On walking the streets in the glaring midday Sun, I often got a faint sense of deja vu – a feeling that I was in some sort of Mediterranean Russia, a presentiment that Tropical Hyperborea had immanentized while I was in the air over Mitteleuropa.

The dog of Faro.

Although Portuguese is considered to be one of the harder Western Romance languages, I found the basics of it very easy to pick up and to transition to very simple conversations (ordering tickets, ordering food, asking for directions, etc). I have some experience with Romance language, namely French and Latin, so picking up vocabulary was trivial; meanwhile, the zh’s and sch’s that tack on to the end of Portuguese words, while a formidable challenge to R1b subhumans, is of no relevance to people used to Slavonic languages.

Few Portuguese over the age of 50 understand English. Almost all Portuguese under the age of 30 do. Between 30 and 50, some do and some don’t.

***

Economy

Lisbon street.

From the time I flew in, I was getting strong California vibes – the sultry atmosphere, the surfeit of concrete and asphalt, the new buildings that look like large white boxes, the range of modest to luxurious villas that dot the inner Algarve.

Gare do Oriente central train station in Lisbon.

Thanks to EU convergence funds, infrastructure was, if anything, even more modern than in California.

Rubbish collection in Sines.

Garbage is thrown into labelled metallic bins, which would electronically move aside on the days when the garbage men would come round to collect them. Very SWPL.

Still, perceptions could be deceiving – in reality, Portugal is, of course, much poorer than almost anywhere in the US or Western Europe. The cars on the road were very old on average (as confirmed by statistics). Wages were low, as indicated by very low Uber fares, and as also confirmed by statistics – the average wage in Portugal is around €900, which is similar to Greece and twice lower than in Spain.

Fishing in the Algarve.

In the Algarve, fishermen still ply their ancient trade on simple wooden boats with just a motor attached and no modern navigation or fishing equipment that I could see.

My impression is that the material living standards of the Portuguese are lower than that of the average Muscovite, though modestly higher than that of the average Russian.

Portugal is also very good for white fish, but salmon is more expensive than in the UK.

The prices of most products was lower than in the advanced world – on average, prices are around 75% of those in the US or the UK (for comparison, Russia is about 50% cheaper). Some products were much cheaper – for instance, a pint of Sagres or Super Bock (their equivalent of Bud Light/Zhigulevskoe) was €1-€1.50 at most bars, and a litre flask of green wine (vinho verde) can be bought even in decent restaurants for €5. In contrast, it is very difficult to find any beer for cheaper than $3 in Moscow and cheaper than $1.50 in the provinces, to say nothing of London. It’s a safe bet that I would become a wine alcoholic if I were to live in Portugal.

2 bedroom apartment in a bucolic setting (see the horse?) in between Alvor and Portimão.

View from our central Lisbon apartment.

Housing prices are quite substantial – about 3-4x cheaper than in California, which of course still makes them rather stratospheric. My impression was that a modest villa in the Algarve or a reasonably central one room apartment in Lisbon (or one of the premiere tourist cities) goes for no less than $250k, which is about equivalent to Moscow, and more than in Brussels. Two of the apartments we stayed at via Airbnb – a 2 bedroom one in between Alvor and Portimão, and a small one bedroom one in central Lisbon just half a block away from the Russian Embassy – both cost around $250k according to their owners.

This is generally confirmed by statistics. I was told by an Uber cabbie that Lisbon has seen inflated interest from the global celebrity class in the past few years, so Portugal’s old draw as a quieter and less expensive retirement location for British pensioners has become outdated.

***

Society

From my limited interactions with them, the Portuguese were kind and helpful, possibly to a greater extent than you would typically find in the UK (if not the US). But society was a bit more… haphazard.

As in much of the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, there are plenty of aggressive drivers. This is backed up by the statistics – the level of road fatalities is similar to Hungary and Romania, and twice as high as in Spain. They park haphazardly, as in Eastern Europe. When we arrived at Sintra, the formally designated parking areas quickly filled up – no problem, the resourceful Portuguese continued to blithely park in all sorts of unlikely nooks and crannies, and there were no parking wardens to punish them for it.

Near central Lisbon.

While Spanish balconies are festooned with the national flag, they become replaced by drying laundry on crossing the Portuguese border. This reflects common stereotypes about the Spanish being more nationalistic and arrogant than the humbler Portuguese.

Urban art in Lagos .

There is graffiti everywhere, more so than in any other country I have been to (to be fair, I haven’t been in too many countries yet). Though there is also a lot of good street art of the sort that Fred Reed describes in Mexico.

Health & Safety inspectors and litigation lawyers of the sort that tyrannize the Anglosphere have evidently been told to BTFO. Portugal wisely avoids challenging Darwin, with the result that you can stride freely along Portuguese castle walls, a 10 meter drop onto sheer rock buttresses on either side and with just the original crenellations for company, without eyesores in the form of warning signs, guardrails, and other physical barriers breaking up the immersion. It is very Eastern Europe in this regard.

Typical street in Lisbon – many ads for Communist parties such as the PCP and PCTP/MRPP with their hammer and sickle logos.

Modern art in Portimão.

The Portuguese don’t much like their Salazar.

As in Spain, the Left has won in Portugal. Almost all the parties of note that actually win votes are Left or Center-Left.

The primary cause, I assume, is that the conservative authoritarianism that ruled over them mid-century provoked a counter-reaction that lingers to this day, just as the Communist experience was instrumental in the electoral triumph of conservatism in most of Eastern Europe. However, this reaction seems to have somewhat more muted in Portugal than in Spain, maybe because Salazar was less overtly repressive than Franco.

Portugal remains more socially conservative than Spain, and is one of the more race realistic countries of Europe. On the other hand, I assume that Jose Ricon’s observation that political correctness is less prevalent in Spain than in the Anglosphere likewise applies to Portugal.

The Portuguese love their roundabouts – they may be even more frequent there than in England. Though as a Portuguese Twitter user pointed out to me, their popularity is sooner due to their low cost of construction, which allows municipal heads and contractors to pocket EU funds designated for road improvements.

Vague Speculations on Corruption

On paper, corruption in Portugal is very low – lower than in Italy, and certainly lower than in Greece or the Balkans, to say nothing of the ex-USSR. Still, even ten days there was enough to see that the country isn’t quiteHajnal tier.

On our first day in Lisbon, we encountered a scammer in the Lisbon Metro, a shifty looking ethnic Portuguese fellow who wanted to “explain” to us how to buy a day pass (in reality: Just enough for one or two rides, with him pocketing the rest). Being well aware of such scams, we declined his services. Still, in Western Europe, such hustlers will invariably be Arabs or Negroes, not natives, as in this case. Portuguese – doing the jobs that immigrants do in other countries.

Another thing we noticed is that some restaurants have a habit of advertising cheap meal deals. However, when customers order said dish from the menu, it will be slightly different from the advertised product – and cost twice as much. In one case, we insisted on ordering just the advertised meal deal, without even opening the menu. I got the impression that the waiter taking our order looked a bit glum when we did that. We were slightly puzzled by the reaction, but a visit to the reviews section on TripAdvisor quickly revealed the reason why.

General impression – probably low levels of elite or “official” corruption, still many more “tricks” and petty scams relative to Core Europe, even though the latter is fast becoming much more “vibrant” in these matters.

***

Cuisine

From what I gather, this is one of the most typical Portuguese lunches (Lisbon, as I recall – around €6).

Incidentally, the English institution of fish and chips was really a Belgian-Portuguese fusion that was first marketed by a Sephardic Jew immigrant from Portugal living in London.

Grilled sardines.

Never before appreciated that sardines could actually be made to taste good.

Ketogenic is easy with all the beef around.

Cataplana, an item of kitchenware that is is used to make seafood stews.

These are typically random oceanic critters – fish, crabs, mussels, shrimp – that are boiled in a tomato soup. Strongly reminded me of the Californian dish cioppino, which was developed by Italian fishermen who “chipped in” with their leftover catch into a communal stew at the end of the day. I assume the Portuguese variant has similarly humble origins, though since transformed into a respectable and more expensive dish.

Canned sardine shop in Lisbon Airport.

Did I mention you can’t separate the Portuguese from their sardines?

One of the highest rated but inexpensive restaurants in Lisbon is Cafe Mili, which is best known for its grilled sardines. Unfortunately, they weren’t in season, so I settled for the chicken curry. It came with $5 pitchers of vinho verde, and the Indian chef even threw in three sample glasses of port wine and some Portuguese liquors for free.

With all that said, at the end we were mainly going to Indian restaurants, of which there are many very good ones thanks to the diaspora. Portuguese cuisine was good to try out for a few days – but sardines and potatoes get old quick.

Just how Portuguese is this?

I did greatly enjoy the green wine (vinho verde), a slightly fizzy drink made from unripened grapes (so very cheap, even by cheap Portuguese alcohol standards). It is a genuine pity that it is only available in Portugal.

They have some specific soft cheeses, such as the queijo curado. It was not all that appetizing to me, though I am not any sort of cheese aficionado like Masha Gessen.

The Molotov Cake is apparently a Portuguese dessert.

Beirao was a liquor that is not worth writing home about.

Ergo for Mateus, though it appears to have been very hip a few decades ago – the debonair, pot-smoking English professor in National Lampoon’s Animal House had a bottle of it on his table.

Olive oil suffused with chilli, called piri-piri, is a popular condiment in Portugal. Really good for giving salads a kick; I am thinking of recreating it (needless to say, it isn’t sold in Russia).

***

Portugal: Places

***

Faro

View from the top of the Cathedral of Faro.

Faro is a scenic, touristy town with a population of 60,000. It is a popular weekend beach destination for Lisabonners, with cheap rail, bus, and air routes connecting the two cities.

Cathedral of Faro.

While Core Europe was economically and technologically progressing, Portugal after its early sprint under Henry the Navigator was in stasis, even though its culture continued to generate things of beauty.

Regional Museum of the Algarve.

Come the late 19th century, things finally started moving forwards. At the turn of the century, the main industry in Faro was creating soda pop bottles.

Incidentally, even small Portuguese towns reliably have regional museums, which reminds me of a similar Russian institution (kraevedcheskie muzei).

Loja dos Objetos Inúteis.

Igreja do Carmo.

“They suffer no more.”

The church contains one of Portugal’s many bone chapels. Contrary to popular myths that the bones belonged to tramps, vagrants, and other undesirables, in reality you needed to furnish a considerable payment to have your remains interred in a chapel of bones. Consequently, this “honor” was mainly reserved for local notables.

The school or kindergarten with playing children just across from the chapel of bones provided an amusing contrast to the somber mood inside.

Quinta do Francês Winery

Quinta do Francês Winery.

Although it has a lot of specific alcoholic beverages, Portugal is pretty weak on standard red and white wines (though they do have a few interesting grape varies such as Trincadeira).

Case in point, the Quinta do Francês Winery – one of the most prominent in the region – was started up by Portuguese-French pair who retired to the Algarve to produce wine as a part-hobby, part business, and have only been selling in bulk for the past decade.

The heart of vinho verde country is in the north, around Porto.

The Algarve Coast

Fort of São João do Arade in Portimão.

This 16th century fort was constructed to protect the southern coast of Henry the Navigator’s realm. Unlike most historical monuments, it was leased out to a Portuguese multi-millionaire for his own use up until 2050 or so.

Carvoeiro Beach.

Really cool location. The buildings – including a discotheque – extend all the way up onto the sand.

Benagil Caves.

And now from the other side (on a different day).

Deep Blue Sea.

Typical small coastal town in the Algarve.

This 5 star hotel looks like a luxury cruise liner stuck between the cliff faces.

Portimão

Back to Portimão.

Portimão itself is a modest town of 50,000 that was once a center of the sardine canning industry. This history is reflected in its main museum, which was also once the town’s major factory producing canned sardines.

Film showing how the sardines were caught, cleaned, processed, and canned.

Sardine genocide.

So yes, sardines… and Manuel Teixeira Gomes, Portimão’s most famous son, whose major claim to fame was serving a fleeting term as President under the Second Republic. Not much else.

The views around the beach are gorgeous, though.

Sagres & World’s End

Sagres Fortress.

This fortress was originally constructed under Henry the Navigator to secure Portugal’s south from piracy and to shield the naval expeditions leaving and entering Lagos.

Lighthouse of Cabo de São Vicente.

The original lighthouse was destroyed by Francis Drake in 1587, with the current version being constructed almost four centuries later by Queen D. Maria II in 1846.

There is a modernist but nice-looking monument to the construction workers.

Fortaleza do Beliche.

This fortress was built in the 16th century, and reconstructed in the 17th. I imagine the scenic path to the sea was used to resupplying the fastness.

Lagos

Lagos.

One way that Portugal differs from many Mediterranean countries is that its churches tend to be tucked away behind a few buildings on central plazas, as opposed to occupying a prominent position in front of them.

Forte da Ponta da Bandeira.

Porta de São Gonçalo.

Statue of Henry the Navigator.

Many of the naval expeditions under Henry the Navigator departed from Lagos harbor.

Slave Market.

Unfortunately, contrary to what I was told, there were no slaves on sale.

Lagos street.

Sines

Castelo de Sines.

This most town of 20,000 people is best known as the birthplace of Vasco de Gama. It has not a particularly touristy place. The central fortress is run down, and the town’s main source of income probably derives from the industrial harbor and the coal power plant.

Statue of Vasco de Gama.

Not far away is the house where he was born.

Centro Histórico de Sines.

Despite this town’s relative delipidation, the local museum was surprisingly comprehensive and modern; its exposition ranged from Roman artifacts to records of its 20th century industrial development under Salazar.

Much more graffiti even than in Lisbon and the other touristy downs, and evidently much less upkeep, with housing prices to match. Can easily get a two bedroom apartment there for $100k. But would you want to?

Elevador dos Penedos Da Índia.

Presumably a failed attempt to create a landmark and attract tourists. But the views were good.

Lisbon

Lisbon!

With almost three million people, it contains about 25%-30% of the Portuguese population (Porto has about as many). Perfectly amenable city, good transport links, nice architecture – it reminded me of Paris.

In retrospect, I wish we had spent an extra day in Lisbon, and one less in the Algarve; we did not have time to cover the section of the city containing the Jerónimos Monastery, Belém Tower, and the Naval Museum of Lisbon.

Russian Embassy in Lisbon.

Our apartment in Lisbon was just half a block from the Russian Embassy, which at the time was adorned with flowers and messages of commissaration (this was immediately after the Kemerovo fire).

The eastern part of Lisbon is a newer, modernist area, with a cheap cable car connecting the waterfront.

The Water Gardens.

Pavilhão do Conhecimento.

Cable car.

While I don’t much like modernist architecture anywhere, in my opinion it goes especially badly in warm regions, since the heat makes the large, open spaces all the more oppressive.

To combat the heat, most of the buildings are painted bland white, robbing the scene of any vibrancy.

Central Lisbon.

The historic part of Lisbon is much denser and more colorful, and more pleasant to walk in, with the inclines providing good exercise.

Panteão Nacional.

This used to be the 17th century Church of Santa Engrácia, which was converted into the National Pantheon in 1916 after the overthrow of the monarchy.

You can see the statue of Christ the King, a smaller version of the famous Christ the Redeemer monument in Rio, in the last photo.

Typical Lisbon alleyways.

Igreja da Sao Vicente de Fora.

We took the opportunity to light some votive candles there, or more precisely, to throw in some coins that lighted up a bulb on a wooden electronic board thing.

These electronic candles are standard throughout Portuguese churches. I am not too happy with this innovation. In my view, it robs this intimate ritual of some of its essentialism.

More scenes of Lisbon.

Santa Justa Lift.

Livraria Bertrand.

Lisbon hosts the world’s oldest bookshop, which was founded in 1732.

I was genuinely surprised by this, since Iberia was always a relative intellectual backwater relative to Italy and the Low Countries. By the second half of the 18th century, per capita book consumption in Spain – which even then was more developed than Portugal – had declined in relative terms to almost the level of Poland, and was an order of magnitude lower than in Great Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

The bookstore offers to stamp your books with its logo certifying you bought them from the world’s oldest bookshop.

Belvedere of Our Lady of the Hill.

This is considered to be the best vantage point in Lisbon. I recommend taking an Uber there an hour or so before sunset.

Estoril & Cascais

Casino Estoril.

This fabled gambling den is where the deposed royalty and emigres of Europe frittered their savings away.

Doesn’t look too impressive in RL.

Can’t comment on the poker games because I was not allowed inside, since I was wearing sandals and it is against their dress code. First time I ever encountered this, and I have visited most of the upscale casinos in Las Vegas. None of them had this BS, but this dump does.

Cascais.

As I gather, this is something like Portugal’s Malibu – very nice area, little graffiti, this is presumably where the notables who gambled at Estoril lived (the even richer ones would have had chateaus in nearby Sintra).

Boca do Inferno.

Wiki: “The cave was the first to be depicted in moving pictures, in the 1896 British film A Sea Cave Near Lisbon, which shows waves breaking at the mouth of the cave.”

Sintra: Castle of the Moors

Castle of the Moors.

This castle was constructed by the Moors in the 8-9th centuries during their conquest of Portugal. Despite its formidable defenses, it was abandoned without a fight when the Portuguese liberated Lisbon in 1147.

The entire area, which also encompasses a monastery and several other palaces and chateaus, was acquired by Ferdinand II in 1838.

It is a vast area, and full of interesting monuments and places. It can either be explored by foot, or by an electric car or even horse that you can rent.

Views of and from the Castle of the Moors.

Sintra: Pena Palace

Pena Palace.

This fairytale construction was erected during the mid-19th century during the height of Europe’s infatuation with Romanticism.

After the overthrow of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910, the palace became a state museum.

More views of and from Pena Palace.

Interiors of Pena palace.

Quite luxurious, as is usually the case, though nothing particular stood out – my impression is that after you’ve seen a few European palaces, you’ve pretty much seen them all.

Even though the views at Pena are far more striking than those from Versailles or the Peterhof!

They are actually building British-style roundabouts (the newer ones) in America now. I’ve seen at least two. They are designed to limit the inflow of traffic at intersections to minimize potential crash points. Like the normal, older rotaries, many do not use them correctly, but they are indeed safer, though since they tend to have curbs, it may be difficult to drive a large truck, like a 16-wheeler through them.

While Core Europe was economically and technologically progressing, Portugal after its early sprint under Henry the Navigator was in stasis

This is because of the David Ricardo’s curse. Portugal was cast in the perennial role as the textbook example for David Ricardo’s comparative advantage and thus allowed to produce wine and cork only to make him right and Brits happy. Not all countries were as lucky as Germany to have their Friedrich List to break from the vicious circle of self-serving British economical theories like that of David Ricardo. Portugal is a good example of what it means to be a British poodle or anybody’s poodle. On the positive side they were never vilified and slandered as much as Spaniards were in Empire’s MSM in last 500 years.

I do not think that all Portuguese hate Salazar. The leftist won but Salazar’s accomplishment will be recognized again. He put up a good fight for Portugal.

The most important factor in determining its wealth and quality of life is the number of Nigerian immigrants. The more of them, the better. Nigeria is only so bad because it doesn’t currently have any Nigerian immigrants at all. It is also cyclical.

There is graffiti everywhere, more so than in any other country I have been to (to be fair, I haven’t been in too many countries yet). Though there is also a lot of good street art of the sort that Fred Reed describes in Mexico.

Varlamov had photographed some surrealiy cool ones there also (at least it’s temporary):

Regarding the Slavic-type sound notes in Portuguese – the ‘zh’ etc as AK notes above – this links to the theory that the Slavs are the descendants of the ancient Trojans who lived in the Troy of Homer’s Iliad. The theory is that after the ancient Trojans were defeated by the Greeks, most moved north to become the Slavs, a few fled to the other end of the Mediterranean to part seed the eventual Portuguese. So, ravishingly beautiful Helen of Troy = Beautiful Slav girls today.

On the positive historical front, Portugal was one of the first European countries to stop using the death penalty, its last execution apparently in Lagos on the Algarve in 1846.

On the repression front, Portugal is I think the only Mediterranean country to criminalise ‘holocaust denial’, a bad legal idea of the middle European latitudes and now Russia too, but mostly not the case across the northern and Mediterrean stretches.

Portugal has ancient treaty bonds with the Brits going back to the 1300s, and at one point was united with Spain. The Galician language of Spain just north of Portugal, is essentially Portuguese with Spanish spelling. As Catalonia and perhaps other parts of Spain such as Basque country begin to break free of Spain, there is an argument that ‘Iberia’ – the whole peninsula – should just be a federal union of ‘countries’ organised by dominant language.

Portuguese – the ‘zh’ etc as AK notes above – this links to the theory that the Slavs are the descendants of the ancient Trojans who lived in the Troy of Homer’s Iliad. The theory is that after the ancient Trojans were defeated by the Greeks, most moved north to become the Slavs, a few fled to the other end of the Mediterranean to part seed the eventual Portuguese. So, ravishingly

Lol this post was too good that I hardly want to bespoil it in seriousness. But Portuguese language is (as another dialect of Latin) almost Spanish language – with letters and pronunciation in different places.

The relation with Russian is that Russian has (in more modern history) directly imported so much of the French (another dialect of Latin) language.

Someone should get AK a hefty dose of dough (don’t look at me, I’m a poorfag student!) and just send him across the world on these trips. I first came across this blog due to the economic coverage but I remember I stayed for the travel diaries and the general observations on life. My favourite one remains the trip across the US you took and all the observations about train-travel etc. It was both effective mythbusting but also genuinely entertaining reading. I truly enjoy reading these stories and I wish there were more of them. I’m not just talking about travel diaries, but general life observations, too. The “10 reasons why USA”/”10 reasons why Russia is better”-posts were similarly very enlightening and fun to read. While I get that current affairs and geopolitics is the main direction of this blog, I do genuinely think you have a knack for observational writing, even on things that at first blush would seem very mundane, but you somehow make it interesting. If I may be so bold to demand it as a reader: more of this!

I’ll have to be brutally honest and say that I’d probably enjoy reading about someone going to Portugal than going myself. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the country just seems.. quaint. Or maybe safe is the word I’m looking for. I’ve also been reading that a ton of Western pensioners are starting to go there, especially to Lisbon, which is pushing up prices for the locals. I also chuckled a little as I read you guys were on Airbnb. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this, in Spain as well as in Portugal.

Many Spanish cities are outright banning the service and there is talk in Portugal to do the same. On /r/Europe, whenever there is a thread on rents, the Portuguese invariably shout the loudest about the situation being out of control – often pointing the finger to Airbnb. I wonder, did you hear about this backlash? I’m assuming the hosts had no interest in alienating their clientele, and further, they are not the ones at the receiving end, but what of the locals? Given these trends and the louder and louder calls for regulating or outright banning, if someone wants to go to Portugal on Airbnb this is probably as good time as any to do it and you have the perfect excuse of having been given a decent introduction by AK.

Can’t comment on the poker games because I was not allowed inside, since I was wearing sandals and it is against their dress code. First time I ever encountered this, and I have visited most of the upscale casinos in Las Vegas. None of them had this BS, but this dump does.

One little known fact about Portugal is that there are many Indians – you see them almost as often as you do in Britain. The colony of Goa, which used to be Portuguese, was annexed by India in a two day war in 1961. Salazar cut off diplomatic relations with India, and allowed any Goans who wanted to emigrate to Portugal to do so – consequently, many Portuguese-Indians and Catholic Indians did just that, and today there are about 70,000 Luso-Indians in Portugal. They have integrated very well; I suspect they might be richer than the average Portuguese.

This seems like an interesting natural experiment to consider Indian average IQ. Goa is a small state of only about 600,000 at the time of the Indian reconquest so an open invitation to emigrate that drew tens of thousands would be a decent random cross section of a part of India.

Other Indian diaspora groups tend to be selected like the IIT elites and grad students that are a sizable part of the Indians in the US or the descendants of Gujarati merchants that make up Indians in Kenya (its often said that Indo-Kenyans are descended from railway workers but those guys left after the job was complete). Indians in Canada and the UK are more average than the US certainly but it sounds like Indians in Portugal are even more representative of the general population.

Since Indian IQ is estimated in the high 80s at least if deprived upbringing is not a factor its very impressive that Indians are doing better than even the natives. It just goes to show that in a developed country (even Portugal) as long as you have middle class values then that’s 98% of what you need to eventually succeed and arrive in the middle class. Low Indian IQ is easily offset by the advantage of pervasive middle class values.

Goa could have a higher average IQ than the rest of India. While Portugal has a relatively low IQ, at least for a European country. The 70,000 immigrants from the 600,000 Goans might be a self-selected group with a higher IQ than the Goan average.

So I doubt it means what you think it means. In any event not very conclusive.

How many Indian ethnic groups are differentiated from the rest in terms of intelligence? It seems just merchant or Brahmin castes of different ethnic/language groups have elevated intelligence with the exception of two small ethno-religious groups (Parsees and Jains). So an Indian emigrant wave from a geographic region rather than based on caste would have a representative average IQ of India.

Certain sounds could be considered ugly. (Like ع in Arabic; or the hard ch sound in Swiss German, which is roughly the same as the g in Dutch.) But altogether I never understood how a language could be considered truly ugly. A lot depends on the context, what is said, how, etc. I don’t consider Swiss German or Dutch or Arabic ugly, and I never understood why people think a language could be considered ugly. It’s just a vehicle of communication.

Goans were Catholics. They left mostly for Mozambique and Angola. Only later they started moving to Portugal. But there are also Indians from other parts: Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.

Thus, there are Hindus (33,000), Muslims (Sunnis) (12,000), Ismailis (5,000), Sikhs (8,000) and Goans (mainly Catholics) (15,000); roughly speaking, Catholics from Goa arrived right through the twentieth century, while Hindus and Muslims came in the early 1980s; Sikhs and some Hindus and Muslims arrived in the late 1990s.

Goan Catholics are considered an Indo-Portuguese group who tend to integrate into Portuguese society (Malheiros, 2000: 386). This is helped by a shared Catholic religion, a shared language, Portuguese, and the history of activity in public service that characterizes much of this population.

Goans are well educated and the number of individuals with higher education in this group, is higher than other Indian groups (Hindus and Muslims) and also than the Portuguese population in general. Thus, Catholic Goans in Portugal tend to be in the liberal professionals (teachers, doctors, lawyers). Two factors contributed to this success: a strategy of investment in education and also the fact that these individuals belonged to local elites in Goa. Regarding the exchange with other nuclei of the Goan diaspora, the circulation of information amongst informal family networks is a key factor in the cohesion of identity, since Goans have no formal networks of contacts (like Ismailis, for example), allowing them to anchor a global network (Idem: 396).

Apparently they brought Sikh men to work on Expo 1998 construction. And they stayed. At the same time Portuguese men by 100s of thousands were working on construction sites in France, Germany and Switzerland.

That’s wrong. The higher castes have higher, the lower ones lower intelligence. Not all Brahmins are the same, and the other castes also have higher and lower groups. The highest Brahmin castes have different IQs depending on the province. The highest non-Brahmin castes have higher IQs than the lowest Brahmin groups. Etc.

True. Goa has the highest GDP of any Indian state. Almost the same as Delhi at $4,100 versus of the national average of $1,700. That’s hard to explain other than to assume Goans have the highest regional IQ in India.

70,000 immigrants from the 600,000 Goans might be a self-selected group with a higher IQ than the Goan average.

I think when you get to the point of tens of thousands of emigrants out of 600,000, it’s going to be a cross-section of society except for maybe scraping the bottom of the barrel of people who are not modern enough to even think of embarking on a long distance journey. Also depends on whether there was any de-Lusification campaign and that pressured a lot of elites to leave.

English spoken by South African Afrikaaners is indisputably the worst, closely followed by the awful Merseyside Scouse accent. Hearing the former it is no wonder the Anglosphere decided the country would be better off with Mandela in charge. Welsh is quite nice to listen to although their written language looks like it was constructed by someone making an elaborate practical joke.

First time I ever encountered this, and I have visited most of the upscale casinos in Las Vegas. None of them had this BS, but this dump does.

Transferring wealth from poor to rich in casinos is quintessentially American. Europeans had some scruples about preying on ignorant poor. American capitalism discovered that selling cheap substandard products to the masses was more profitable that high quality expensive products to the rich. I think it is called a massification. This is American egalitarianism at work. Marx probably would be proud. Americans ‘massified’ psychological therapy and pederasty which in Europe were reserved for elites only. Now even a construction worker or proud member of Teamsters can enjoy pleasures of homosexuality and then go to a psychologist to talk about it.

First time I ever encountered this, and I have visited most of the upscale casinos in Las Vegas

Possibly because Sandals were banned for almost 3 centuries in Portuguese Goa as part of the longest Inquisition in history.

The thinking was to force converts to wear shoes made of cattle leather, and the Portuguese were no lesser zealous than the Muslims in this affair or in burning Temples.

India is a continent more than a country. The distance from London to the Urals is similar to its breadth N-S E-W especially after reunification.

There’re distinct bio regions and you can barely cover one with a long, expensive trip. Many are also surprisingly dangerous with governmental writ giving way to insurgents, tribal militias or criminals. The costs also quickly add up with a surprisingly expensive health care system.

Russians might be cool, alongside the occasional frenchmen but it’s probably better that there’s less coverage. Although, Ngos & Christian missionaries are already making trips hoping to cause a revolution, and keep in mind most Right Wing Westerners are no where near socially conservative as their peers a few centuries back.

Hopefully, if you go you’ll write in a respectful manner without knee jerk comments on caste, property (women) rights or quickly shrinking poverty.

An example of Western Bias is the multi billion Cattle smuggling operation being turned into a religious issue. If American farmers were having their Cattle stolen by armed criminals in order to sell them in Muslim Majority Bangladesh for meat, it would be an outrage.

But because this is an animal sacred to Kafirs, as many Muslim Sufi Saints said It is the Pious duty of Muslims to slaughter cows to oppress Hindus.

Re: India and shoes: I think there was an attempt to take up the accoutrements of civilization, just like in many other countries – Japan being one prominent example that was never colonized. Obviously, it may be wiser to be wear sandals in hot climates.

Fairly, you can’t appreciate beauty of a language until you learn it yourself, know its grammar and vocabulary, etc.

Also the languages that sound to you the worst, are probably one’s which are closest to your own. Polish sounds just comical and cutting to me. Whereas German sounds cool to my ears (in a slightly sinister way). English sounds nice and quite euphonious.

Stop trying to whitewash genocide.
Sandals were specifically banned due to the habit of Brahmins avoiding leather shoes above all else.

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Europe was also less civilized to a significant degree than India well into the 18th century, let alone centuries beforehand.

Obviously, you wish to ignore the comment about shoes being made from leather being avoided by Hindus because you’re either a jew or a catholic uncomfortable with the savage ritualistically cannibal origin of your religion.

Obviously, you wish to ignore the comment about shoes being made from leather being avoided by Hindus because you’re either a jew or a catholic uncomfortable with the savage ritualistically cannibal origin of your religion.

The origins of Hinduism are in not only horse sacrifice but also involves rituals where the queen would simulate sex with a dead horse before copulating with the king.

I know that we must stand together or fall together. Our fates are intertwined but time is better spent training weapons and lifting weights than on a phone yelling in text to our Un Aryan inferiors. Ie songbird and dfh who both choose abrahamic shame over Dignity under Dyaus Patar

Fundamentally its not so much about the effectiveness of internet fightz, which is indeed pretty minimal, but what it says about oneself. Wanting to hide one’s own contributions suggests a rather dim view of one’s own effort after it has already been expended.

I think a good argument could be made that such things are already sunk cost, and therefore unless it will incur additional costs to maintain(which it won’t), there’s no real reason to eliminate it.

A long time ago, I’ve written some truly embarrassing games for competitions and it amazes me in silent horror that it still exists on some download lists somewhere. But it still is part of who I am, what I wrote, and even as mistakes, it taught me a lot(the importance of beta testing, for one). I’ve never tried to go and remove them later.

Anon, I am starting to think you are also that Oakiepichuku fellow, with his interesting theory of a Nigerian immigrant-horde singularity causing the standard of living to take off in the West. I am looking forward to your satire of Indians, but you need to pick a ridiculous-sounding Indian name first. Not too outlandish though, but something that real Indian people are called, so that one can suspend disbelief.

First, I would prefer this weird srach to come to an end, which I hint at by hiding most of the last 20 or so comments.

Second, this Indian dude is weird. I have had experiences (very positive ones) with many Indians in the Bay Area, and I am an Indophile myself (even if pretty skeptical on their prospects relative to China), why are only the ones on the Internet so unhinged.

Third, I am assuming this claim about the Portuguese enforcing leather sandals on India as a symbol of Judeo domination or whatever is an urban legend of svidomy Hindutva nationalists. But I would be happy if someone could confirm or disconfirm that.

There’s nothing unhinged about wanting to protect your culture from a mass genocide carried out continuously for millenia.

Merely speculated that since the Epic of Portugal involves sailing to India & due to the low amount of Progressivism there, that possibly an elite attitude/aversion to Hindu practices still exists. It’s a stretch but the the actual inquisition is not,

“Inquisitions were used by the Portuguese to prevent defection back to other faiths and had far-reaching implications. In the laws and prohibitions of the inquisition in 1736, over 42 Hindu practices were prohibited, including the wearing of the Brahminical shendi (ponytail), wearing of caste thread, greeting people with Namaste, wearing sandals, removing of the slippers while entering the church, and growing of the sacred basil or Tulsi plant in front of the house, in order to ward off the evil eye”

I wouldn’t have gone otherwise – there are a few dozen other countries and regions higher up on my to-go list both globally (e.g. China, India), and even in the Mediterranean (e.g. Italy, Greece, Israel). But obviously I was not going to say no to this, so off I flew to Lusitania.

If you are ever in an airport in Israel, and they ask you your job, say you’re a “business investor”, rather than a “internet blogger”.

I always passed through their passport control smoothly in two seconds with the question “purpose of visit” – “visiting friends”. But I just had a vision of an airport passport control, asking what your job is- and innocently response “I’m an internet blogger”. -inspector googling to find if you actually have a blog, reading “rational wikipedia”…

Interesting contrast between what happened to Goa and what happened to Macao. India probably would have better off with its own HK. But I’m not sure if the Portuguese could have provided that same sort of example.

57? Many died in prison & had their bones exhumed and burnt.
Another author, in the 19th century, Joao Felix Pereira, coincides with Pyrard’s statement and wrote:

‘The inquisition of Goa, distinguished itself on account of the greater rigors than those of the tribunals of the metropolis; thousands of victims died at the stake in flames; and when these bloody executions brought fears of a seditious movement, the viceroys and governors, who did not enjoy the power of force openly, employed the dagger of the assassins and poison ‘(5)

Ive found the statements such as the 300 temples burnt elsewhere as well, and Sita Ram Goel once compiled a list of over 10,000 Temples currently converted to Mosques or Churches. The Catholic Church is actually the largest landowner in the Republic of India.
Previous chistian injunctions such as the Edict of Thessalonica are very similar to the Inquisitions practices 1000 years later. This Edict banned all Roman Pagan rites under pain of death,

Shiva Ji Maratha beheaded many Padres for the forced conversions & abductions they did,
A common practice of Christians & Muslims, such as your own people being kidnapped into Harems where forced infanticide was common.
Liberals continue this child-centric practice today via “education”
–
For the sake of Brevity, I’ll say that in all honesty by my people I mean at a minimum all Indo-European Polytheists.

A Rodnovor or Asatru Practioner is more dear to me than a Muslim across the border.
Why? Mosaic Distinction

Also, Grey Skull LP is a good beginner program and stronglifts.com a good resource.
We expect to see a body weight bench press within 1 year, and a similar Overhead Press within 2.
Famous world of Russian Vedic

So we should be fine with foreign entities mass converting the population, genociding our culture all for some development or shekels?

India liberalized its economy in the early 90s & has had good growth since.

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Your entire mentality is exactly the same as Abraham selling his own sister for material goods, and is THE most apt comparison. Fkn daughter sellers always trying to convince others that its the best method,

British colonialism which essentially helped Islam gain a second leash on life was soo good. Hope you like all the Pakistani rape gangs fgt.

Britain even helped Pakistan in the war of 1971 in which 100,000s of Bengali Hindus were killed, converted or forced to flee.
Similar practice today with the Rohingyas and the Russians are WELL Aware of the Ottoman Crimean War stuff as well as a few other examples, with Protestants riding out to help Turks at the Gates of Vienna.

… the four ideals of cryptocalvinism: Equality(the universal brotherhood of man), Peace (the futility of violence), Social Justice (the fair distribution of goods), and Community (the leadership of benevolent public servants).

I think Salazar gets hated on too much these days. While he may have made mistakes during his later years, he has always struck me as a leader and dignified statesman who sought to do right by his country during his long reign.

What do people in general think about Portuguese cuisine compared to other Mediterranean countries? I have never been to Iberia but I quite enjoyed Greek and Italian food (as well as the sites) when I visited those countries.

I don’t know what the current numbers are but it was remarked some few years ago there are many more Portuguese in Angola and Mozambique than the other way around, which seems to make it something of an exception to colonial empires, though I doubt there are 70,000 Portuguese still in India.

In 2011, the estimate was:

Portuguese: Angola: 100,000
Mozambique: 20,000

Compared to, in Portugal:
Angolans: 26,000
Mozambicans: 3,000

Incidentally, they don’t seem to collect any stats on race, so it is hard to understand how meaningful these estimates are.

The half-Russian daughter of the now-former president of Angola, Isabel dos Santos*, has accumulated a lot of assets in Portugal yet she seems to be based in Angola (although maybe that will change with the new president).

It led me to wonder why the Angolan ultra-rich don’t simply live in Portugal or the US, it seems like an deviation from the usual elite settlement patterns.

*she is lucky genetically, she has few African facial features and relatively light skin.

Portugal has a larger population than I would have guessed – 10,5 million people.

Apparently they are experiencing a steady population decline, however, due to emigration – which seems like you’d need a strong reason to emigrate from this paradise considering all these pictured attractions above of beer, wine, cheeses, beautiful landscapes and beaches.

“On the repression front, Portugal is I think the only Mediterranean country to criminalise ‘holocaust denial’, a bad legal idea of the middle European latitudes and now Russia too, but mostly not the case across the northern and Mediterrean stretches.”

Really?

Below is where free speech on the impossible ‘holocaust’ storyline is illegal, violators go to prison for Thought Crimes.
An obvious admission that the storyline doesn’t stand up to scientific, logical, & rational scrutiny.

I suspect a comfortable left of centre good thinking prevails because the African and Afro-Caribbean origin population is too small to be noticed though some non lethal gangs of young Sudanese home invaders and carjackers will have been noticed recently. Also the further north you go from Melbourne the more likely a respondent would be to think of Aborigines. Quite a few people may have noticed Chinese exam results – and Jews have long been high performers, though not numerous, so….???

The more I read Karlin the more I realize just how Anglo American he is. Very little to no European soul. He may live in Russia but he is an absolute American. Everything he writes I take with more than a pinch of salt.

I was only once in Portugal. but can confirm about the language: When I was really tired and not focusing, I was under the impression that everyone around is speaking Polish, even with occasional Polish words floating around. Then I was focusing and it was all just an illusion.

“As in Spain, the Left has won in Portugal. Almost all the parties of note that actually win votes are Left or Center-Left”

Perhaps ‘somewhat true’ of Spain ten or more years ago; but since, getting the über-conservative, corrupt, Popular Party out of control in Spain has proved almost impossible until only recently, like trying wash tar off your hands with dish soap. Spain is deeply divided, the Spanish Civil War never really resolved politically and the death of Franco resulting in re-establishment of the monarchy, albeit a ‘parliamentary constitutional monarchy’ simply saw the Spanish State’s divisions swept under the rug.

Catalonia remained a Republican sympathetic entity (where Catalan nationalism is somewhat fused with, or is a branch of, the Republican cause), was repressed severely under Franco, and today’s Spanish regional crisis reflects a strong and ongoing (not merely lingering) resentment at a lack of political opportunity for self-determination. It should be noted in this context it was the Popular Party’s Rajoy sabotaged an agreement for larger autonomy in Catalonia, further alienating and radicalizing Catalans, leading to the present political impasse.

If the right-wing Popular Party’s (the party of Franco’s legacy) Manuel Rajoy is forced out as Prime Minister with a Socialist no-confidence motion pending in Spanish parliament as I write this, and snap elections are called, the center-right Cuidadanos party will return with the largest block in Spain’s national parliament. The Popular Party is tarred as hopelessly corrupt as well as ham-handed [crude and arrogant] in its’ handling of the Catalan crisis and the Socialists are perceived as both; corrupt and ineffective.

Insofar as the Catalan separatist parties, the Catalan nationalists, however in partnership with the hard left Republicans, are more or less a center-right majority (in Catalonia.)

Spain’s political demographic has undergone much change over the past ten years, since the Socialists had been relegated to barking from the back-bench. My time living in Catalonia was about the time there began a shift away from the Socialists and the left:

This is what you are telling about the former ownership of Pena palace:

“After the overthrow of the Portuguese monarchy in 1910, the palace became a state museum.”

This is correct but misleading. Dom Fernando II (a member of the house of Sachsen Coburg, Koháry, son of a rich Hungarian princess) bought the Sintra property and had the castle built. When he died in 1885 he left his property in Sintra to his second morganatic wife Elise Hensler, a former opera singer, daughter of an anti monarchic German revolutionary. This Elise was before her marriage given the title of “Countess of Edla” by the reigning duke of Sachsen Coburg and Gotha. Edla is the name of a small castle the duke had bought near the Austrian town of Amstetten. King Dom Luis (the second son of Dom Fernando II) was then able to convince the government of Portugal to buy this property from the widow of his father. She first kept the right to live in a nice house in the park, but then also sold that right to the state. To a large extent, the castle was then used by the royal family, but it belonged already before 1910 to the state.

“Indian” IQ is not 80 and only (ironically), IQ 80 people think it is.

India is 4 separate countries, Indo-European/Aryan, Dravidian, Aboriginal and Oriental. Then within each of those, there are many subgroups.

Just the Oriental and Aboriginals are 100 million people each. Aryan tribes are about 500 million and Dravidian another 500 million.

Talking about an Indian IQ is like talking about a single “American” IQ (including all of North and South America and all ethnicities, africans and caucasians combined).

As far as portugese cuisine goes: Vin d’aloo (vindaloo) is a Portugese word for a portugese invented dish introduced from Portugal to Goa colony. That “Indian” food you are eating, when in comes to vindaloo and similar “curries” (also a UK invention, not Indian), is 100% Portugese native food. Potatoes came from then new world, then to Europe and then to Asian/India.

Salazar got his start as an economics professor, not a military man. He did not come to power in a bloody civil war, but during political and fiscal chaos in the 1920s. And Salazar had the good fortune to die before an almost bloodless revolution overturned his dictatorship.

In 2005 Salazar was selected the most admired Portuguese of all time, beating out the Marquis de Pombal, Prince Henry the Navigator (who had the wisdom never to go to sea), Luis de Camoes, Alfonso I, Vasco de Gama, etc., etc.

This is the current Catalan separatist president writing. Change Spaniard and put any other human group name and you would call any person writing this a supremacist. If you still believe this is center right, by these standards nobody could ever be extreme right, imho.

The author’s point about the resemblance between Portugal and Eastern Europe, particularly Russia, could be turned around: eastern Europe, including Russia, resembles Portugal. Europe is Europe! We all belong to a single cultural family but we all express that culture in our own unique ways. That’s what gives Europe its richness. There’s no “melting pot”. That’s what Americans have such trouble understanding: how we can be the same and different at the same time!

Manuel Teixeira Gomes was presidente in the First Republic (1910-1926), not in a Second Republic (curiosly, in Portugal there is not even consensus in what is the “Second Republic”: some people – probably more right-wing – say that the 2nd Republic was 1926-1p74 and the 3rd since 1974, and others – probably more left-wing – say that the 2nd Republic is since 1974, considering that the 1926-1974 does not count)

It was Rajoy ‘kicked the ball forward’ when it came to radicalizing the Catalans, when he sabotaged the agreement worked out between Barcelona and Madrid (around 2010 I recall) and in any case, I suppose you believe Rajoy’s hero Francisco Franco was benign like a teddy bear in Catalan history.

Now, tell me this: How is it Catalan politicians are prosecuted and jailed but identified criminal fascists with program to undermine Spain’s democracy have never been brought to trial under Rajoy? Is it because they are Francoists? How is it “So far, all accusations pertaining to this group have been in vain, even though Article 22 of the Spanish Constitution and Article 515 of the Penal Code prohibit secret associations”

“I agree to join the National Organization of the Anvil, assuming the fight for the kingdom of Christ in Spain as the most important activity in my life. I swear to keep the existence of the organization absolutely secret, as well as its members, actions and strategies. I also swear to obey its commands and act responsibly as a leader when told to do so. As a Christian knight I pledge to defend, even at the expense of my own life, this tool that God has given us to establish his kingdom on Earth.”

The witness continues: “I’m not the first one to come out of this with serious pathological conditions, and I won’t be the last. It’s a destructive political-religious organization that acts like a real mafia. They broke my spirit as soon as they realized that I was starting to distance myself. They prepared to ambush me during the María Reina ceremony, one of the obligatory yearly rituals along with the Cristo Rey (Christ the King) and the ritual of loyalty to the pope and its founder, Ramón Plata. They humiliated me, they made fun of my parents and spread rumors that I did drugs and went whoring. It was a lie, but my girlfriend, who was in Pre, the phase that comes before being admitted to the sect, dumped me and my whole world came crashing down.”

“In theory, they accept the social doctrine of the Catholic Church, which thinks that, despite its flaws, democracy is a more just system than others. But we also studied Jean Ousset’s book Pour qu’Il règne, in which he argues that a ruling politician gets his legitimacy directly from God, and thus he must only answer to the Supreme Maker. It’s a thesis comparable to Italian fascism and Spanish National Catholicism, whereby the leader only answers to God and history for his actions. They use democracy and people to achieve its ends.

It is said to be a very corrupt country, with a high rate of malnutrition, and Luanda, believe it or not, is supposed to be the world’s most expensive city. Yet, I thought I recall hearing that it is considered notably better than some other parts of Africa – maybe because of what seems to be its lower population density. It is said to have very nice beaches.

The elites have supposedly sent over $190 billion abroad, while oil accounts for 97% of the country’s exports. I think Isabel dos Santos may still spend a lot of time there because her father’s party still has a tight grip on power, with no immediate prospect of losing it. She may fear living in Europe, where there might be calls to put her in jail, more than she fears living in Angola.

There is some similarity in terms of level of GDP per capita, levels of population homogeneity, and having history of not completely democratic 20th century.

Mainly, what the author experiences is probably a classic optical illusion of travelling – which is a result of having a third point which you perceives as the environment default setting (I guess his default setting is America or UK), so then anything that tilts the normal perspective induces similar emotions.

It’s a typical travelling illusion and part of having a good trip.

E.g. If you spend your whole life only in Russia, and then visit Portugal – it will be a very foreign culture to you.

If you spend your whole life in Russia, then live for some years in a country like Portugal, and then visit a country like America – your brain will probably see many similarities between Portugal and America. Because both are shifting off default environmental setting for your brain.

I’ve had similar emotions of seeing similarities between Japan and Southern Europe (Italy and Spain). (But I believe this is part of the same optical/travelling illusion).

AP has long been making a case – one I increasingly agree with – that Russia and Ibero-Hispanic culture, especially Latin American culture, has a lot in common.

This doesn’t need to have arisen through one influencing the other, or sharing common roots; it could also be convergent cultural evolution.

Some countries I have been to seemed very foreign indeed. For instance, strange as this might sound, I consider there to be more similarities between Russian culture and American culture, than between Russian culture and French culture.

FWIW, vinho verde actually means “young wine” – it is something that is fermented quickly and is consumed soon after. It is not made from unripened grapes (which should be obvious already from the existence of vinho verde rosé). It is cheap because it is made from wine varieties that are hardy and do not require much care (e.g., Loureiro).

The bottle of Quinta da Aveleda vinho verde in one of your photos is very common in the USA. Costs $7 in a large liquor store not far from in where I live. Almost no fizz and higher alcohol % than most. Exceptional value for a delicious wine.

I agree about some similarities with American culture, although when you meet Americans in real life they can seem one of the most different.

I experience the culture of Spain itself as alien.

I know personally only Spanish people, not Portuguese. At least the Spanish I’ve met usually are easy and friendly, but the mentality is a new one altogether. I don’t know if other people here have met Spanish engineers? They’re living in a different mentality. Even the way they try to seduce girls is a different world.

I agree with AP’s general point that it’s usually easier to socialize with people from Spanish-speaking and Latin American countries, compared to some other parts of Europe.

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With Spain and Portugal, there’s convergence with Russia on things like GDP per capita, ethnic homogeneity and having a non-democratic 20th century. They have possibly some homo sovetikus effects.

But also a lot of subtle reversals even on a 20th century historical side, – for example, religion was forced by the state in Spain/Portugal, so being non-religious is now the ‘rebel’ setting.

Referring to the period in which the Portuguese and Spanish crowns were united and to the hot, dry wind that sometimes blows from Spain, the Portuguese like to say, “De Espanhna ni bon vento ni bon casamento.”

I am not defending Rajoy. I am just pointing out the obvious. Racist and supremacist acts are the way they are, no matter who is committing them.

The fact that Rajoy is doing wrong does not mean the Catalan supremacist voters are doing right. They are both doing wrong. And treating fellow human beings as inferior beasts is wrong, no matter who is doing it. And the Catalan politicians are doing and their voters are supporting it.

If you believe in fair treatment to everyone then you cannot support a supremacist Catalan movement which is treating other human beings as inferior beasts instead of persons with the same dignity as them.

You could make the case that thru the first 30 years of the dictatorship Salazar had many positive accomplishments, not the least of which was keeping Portugal out of WW2 while assisting the allies with an air base and port facilities in the Azores. By the late 1950s, however, the Portuguese economy was in desperate shape and many Portuguese were literally walking to northern Europe, the two most popular destinations being Paris and Luxembourg.

Maybe they should have allowed investiture of Puigdemont, and avoided the more hardline and reactionary replacement due to Rajoy’s juvenile and recalcitrant behavior. Why would anyone be surprised if Rajoy’s militancy produced a mirror image of himself? But I am not convinced ‘the Catalan supremacist voters’ are any less criminal than Spanish voters at large, actually they are probably more innocent; for the very fact of the history of repression stems from the Spanish side. If what Rajoy is doing is wrong, does not Rajoy’s behaviors make the voters who’ve kept Rajoy in power at least as criminal? And what of the growing perception throughout Europe’s judiciary that Pablo Llarna is something like a hybrid of a joke and horror story and Rajoy’s lap-dog? Are the consistent judicial victories of the exiled Catalans proof Spain’s courts are right and the courts of Belgium, Scotland, Germany and Switzerland are all wrong? I know it is difficult to look past one’s own cultural prejudices but I can assure you I have met many fine Catalan people who are pro-independence and I do not consider them to be criminal in any way.

I wondered if George Soros has anything to do with the latest Catalan independence movement?

Catalonia and specially Barcelona were communist strongholds during the civil war. It was through the port of Barcelona that most of the loot was shipped to the Soviet Union via the Black Sea Soviet ports

Barcelona is the San Francisco Seattle Portland of Spain, very loony left. Those kind of people are very easily swayed by anything presented as progressive.

I can understand that idea. The old Austro-Hungarian Empire included a lot of Central, S/E and Eastern Europe with the same sort of architecture and ambience. However I would extend Europe further south. Northern Italy for example is absolutely European, and in my opinion, a city like Milan has more in common with cities in Switzerland and Germany than Rome.

Similarly, the northern Spanish cities like Barcelona/Bilbao/Santander/Zaragoza and the capital Madrid are clearly European. I would maybe put Valencia on the dividing line, while heading into Murcia and Andalucía is finding something else, maybe similar to heading into Italy’s Mezzogiorno. Not bad, but just a different ambience.

Spain and Italy also have similarities with Poland, having a completely modern technological European class in the major cities combined with extensive and backward agricultural regions – although having said that, the same would, I suppose, apply to Moscow/St Petersburg vs. rural Russia (haven’t been there).

Similarly, the northern Spanish cities like Barcelona/Bilbao/Santander/Zaragoza and the capital Madrid are clearly European. I would maybe put Valencia on the dividing line, while heading into Murcia and Andalucía is finding something else, maybe similar to heading into Italy’s Mezzogiorno. Not bad, but just a different ambience.

You comment takes 1st prize for ignorance of what is happening in Catalonia today. The Republican hard left is the smallest fraction of the contemporary Catalan independence movement which is largely NATIONALIST (not communist.) Unspoken expletive to you, or on second thought, f-off.

You are entitled to your own political opinions, even if they are far to the right, what it is obvious is that you value the same behavior differently depending on whether you like the perpetrator or not. That is not fair and makes your other statements and your blog posts biased and unreliable.

This has been a disappointment for me as I though you were being truthful in other matters, but I realize I was wrong. If you can write something like that on this topic, you can do the same on many others. I know the Catalan supremacist position well, having lived there several years and having friends still suffering it with their family and children, only because they want to speak Spanish and do not want to be treated like inferior beasts.

I know of no Spaniard that would abide for a candidate for president that could call “inferior beasts” to any other human group, let alone elect him or her for the position.

The fact that you are overlooking this fact to support a Catalan supremacist movement and putting them as innocent people says everything we need to know about you and the accuracy of your views regarding other matters.

I will leave this topic here as it seems clear that your ethical standing is not the same for everyone, as it happens with many people you complain about. I will let the readers to make their own decisions about this matter after reading our exchange.

Anatoly I think you nailed it. When I was a young man I knew an woman who went to Portugal every year for the summer. I believe she was a teacher. What you describe from the culture, food, and even the photos is what she described. That was over 30 years ago. She told me that it costs only around $15 dollars a day for their little bungalow and that food was cheap and basically they ate what the ordinary people had—-just what you showed in your photos.

I’m sure the prices of those little bungalows are much higher now but compared to the rest of Europe it’s probably still pretty cheap. A very nice look at Portugal. Thanks

On walking the streets in the glaring midday Sun, I often got a faint sense of deja vu – a feeling that I was in some sort of Mediterranean Russia, a presentiment that Tropical Hyperborea had immanentized while I was in the air over Mitteleuropa.

Most likely it is genetic memory. You know that southern genes are strong and 25% Kebab often if not usually means 100% Kebab.* This may well explain your longing for “Tropical Hyperborea”. You genetic memory simply do not like Russia and its northern climate. You will always be looking to the south. Plus your love for hot spice, wine and your overall physiognomy. The puzzle is finally solved. Just simply admit at least climatically you do not belong to Russia. You seem to have enjoyed your life in CA which is better suited for you.

Many Russians like to whine about their climate and winters (myself included), but few would seriously consider such a ridiculous idea as yours. It simply would not come to their mind, because this is very un-Russian. I hear whining about Russian “too hot” summers as often as whining about Russian “too cold” winters, and the summer of 2010 will be remembered for decades.

Our Slavic ancestors chose to live here and thought it was quite good for them. So if it was good for them, it must be at least acceptable for their descendants. Russians have simply prospered in such conditions. Otherwise this won’t be Russia. Our ancestors even didn’t stop in Northern Europe and went far beyond to the north-east, right to Alaska. But hardly ever they turned en mass to the south. It may be a strange coincidence, but Russians seem to have avoided living in places where winter is warmer than -8 C (bar the North Caucasus, but practically the Kuban and Terek cossacks have always been a mix of Little Russians, Tatars, Kalmyks, Circassians, etc.; Novorussia was colonized by Little Russian peasants who are a more warmth-loving stock then Great Russians).

*P.C. You remind me another my acquaintance who is also 25% Kebab (actually Tajik), but looks much more Kebabish than you (he may well pass for a Pakistani or northern Indian). And he always whines about how cold Russian climate is, no warm weather can please him, even in summer, though he’s never considered moving from Moscow to, e.g., Krasnodar, not to say to Dushanbe (and he speaks Tajik fluently). Simply whining. I always wanted to tell him that maybe there is nothing wrong with the Russian climate, but something is wrong about him, like you are simply a Kebab genetically and this is why you do like very hot weather, and then probably your place is somewhere else than in Central Russia. But I hesitated to upset him with such blunt words, though, he is a good guy and sort of a Russian nationalist.

How will America s adjust to the roundabouts, especially the aggressive immigrants who never yield to anyone?

These new ones are very different from the old ones, of which there are many in New England. In the new ones, the circle part itself is a narrow, single lane. The possible points of conflict are the entry points, which are themselves narrowly fixed. On the outside, when you are through the circle (if you go straight), there is a merging lane from people making a ninety degree turn, which forms another point of conflict. Basically, at any one time, you only have to keep a look out at one point, and the number of points are very limited. Crashes are still possible, but it isn’t the hair-raising experience that the old ones were. It slows you down a lot too, more than the old ones.

Our Slavic ancestors chose to live here and thought it was quite good for them. So if it was good for them, it must be at least acceptable for their descendants. Russians have simply prospered in such conditions. Otherwise this won’t be Russia. Our ancestors even didn’t stop in Northern Europe and went far beyond to the north-east, right to Alaska. But hardly ever they turned en mass to the south.

I agree it superficially seems like a strong argument, but then you are ignoring different historical periods of our ancestors. For example, heat was not an issue for the Ancient Russians who built the pyramids, despite that their skin was not less pale than ours according to the photographic evidence.

I know there are scholars who claim Nigerians were involved in building the pyramids (this is before the Nigerians immigrated to Sparta). I think the more plausible theory is that the construction of the pyramids was a joint Russian-Nigerian project.

Probably the Nigerians contribution was being exaggerated in the West in as part of a Russophobic campaign.

Interestingly Russians of Ancient Egypt also seemed to have possessed a species of white skinned buffaloes.

My fav vinho verde is Casal Garcia, which is definitely fizzier than the stuff from Aveleda. I used to get it for about a buck a bottle in Portugal in the ’80s, but you can still find it in various parts of Europe for roughly €4 per bottle. It’s acidity makes it a good match to grilled sardines, though Sagres is also a good accompaniment.

Southern Europe is the southern region of the European continent. Most definitions of Southern Europe, also known as Mediterranean Europe, includes Southern and Eastern Spain, Southern France, Italy, the Adriatic coast of former Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, the East Thrace of European Turkey, Cyprus, and Malta. Serbia[1][2] and Portugal are also usually included despite not having a coast in the Mediterranean

I say let the Russians have ancient Egypt! Every Russian child shall be taught that his glorious ancestors built the pyramids. This way they will seek to live up to high standards, and err, bomb Israel for some reason.

I’ve commented here at this blog about food, travel, film…but yes, I do limit most of my comments to Ukraine and Russia. I have friends and family that live there, and therefore am most interested in current affairs there today. I’m still working and therefore I don’t have the time to read as much as I would like – some of the commentators here seem to be unemployed to have so much time to devote to blogging and have such a wide and intimate grasp of international affairs. All in all, this is an interesting blog, although I can see 003′s point about Karlin. In fact, I think that his ‘Russian nationalism’ is really just a knee jerk reaction that he uses just to help define himself. Everytime that he mentions that Zhirinovsky’s views are close to his own, I wonder (and smile to myself)? I think that he’ll move back to California within a few years – and leave the blood curdling stuff to Zhirinovsky and other ‘nationalists’ while he comfortably numbs his senses of Russian realities. Any bets?

You know that southern genes are strong and 25% Kebab often if not usually means 100% Kebab.* This may well explain your longing for “Tropical Hyperborea”. You genetic memory simply do not like Russia and its northern climate. You will always be looking to the south.

I don’t see myself as doing that. I see myself as being objective enough to see that humans are rarely objective, but lie to themselves a lot, and truthful enough to admit that we can’t gain ultimate truth through knowledge.

Most people don’t take truth very seriously, so they’re pretty comfortable with not investigating what our minds can really know.

Most people like to think they’re objective without thinking too hard about whether they really are, so they never notice their in built biases.

You don’t believe in myth or religion because your senses and logic can’t support them. And you are quite right. But you don’t apply logic to logic – you apply it to religion, sure, but you stop short of applying logic to logic.

True, logic shows religion and myth are nonsense. But if you apply logic to logic, logic also shows that logic is nonsense. If you apply logic to our senses, logic shows our senses are nonsense.

But you are only willing to think logically about some things – you are stuck in a kind of middle ground.

But those of us more dedicated to Truth, have found out our senses and logic itself are nonsense, and are not afraid to accept the most extreme conclusions of logic. We are not satisfied with a lukewarm middle ground like you are.

And the end of all our journeying shall be to come back to our beginnings.

It is one thing to acknowledge that humans have flaws and biases, it is another thing to encourage it. Even if we cannot agree on the veracity of a certain matter, it is disrespectful to act as if truth is simply something to twist and mold to whatever shape one fancies at the moment.

I have a lot of respect for the Portuguese. Despite being located next door to the Spanish, they have a distinctive national character that sets them apart from their neighbors. The food, the architecture, and certain aspects of their artistic heritage (Azulejo mosaics) are all first-class. They are in my opinion a seriously underrated people.

On a point not yet brought up on this thread; looking into their military history, man-for-man the Portuguese may be the toughest fighters in Southern Europe. Since pre-Roman times the people from what is now Portugal were exceptionally disciplined and ferocious in the Art of War. They played a major role in the Reconquista and the defeat of Napoleon in Iberia. The reason Brazil is so large is because the Portuguese colonists were both aggressive and more importantly competent in pressing their territorial claims against all rivals. The Portuguese involvement in WWI was doomed from the start, but that they managed to put such a relatively large force on the Western Front in spite of the disastrous state of their domestic affairs shows a lot of willpower. In the 1960′s and 70′s they fought with some success in repelling the anti-colonial insurgencies in their African domains, far better than they had any right to considering their country was poor and operating under great pressure from their allies in NATO to pull out. That the Soviets and Cubans provided a lot of material support to the rebels is relatively well known, but how the U.S. influenced the course of events is often flushed down the memory hole.

I guess much of this is overlooked because it was considered peripheral to what was going on in the rest of Europe and the West in general, but it is impressive when you take time to look into it. Few nations accomplished so much in feats of arms working off of so little in terms of resources and geography.

I don’t recall ever saying we can mold and twist truth to our fancies. Sometimes one assumes ones own assumptions are shared by others, and fails to explain oneself well.

I think we should strive for Truth as hard as we can – and that if we do that, we’ll have to accept that logic is not the sole path to Truth.

I also say that we should consider other things sometimes and not only logical truth. For instance, it may not be advisable to tell an ugly woman she is ugly to her face, or the guy holding a gun to your head he is an idiot.

Are you planning a quicker exodus back? Arizona’s cheaper and only 5 hours away by car (45 minutes by plain) to the beaches.. Why not admit it, this ‘Russian nationalist’ stuff doesn’t seem to fit. I’d label you a ‘cosmopolitan’ in the classic sense of the term: food, wine, travel, literature, electronic gadgets – almost a hedonistic hipster. Actually, you remind me of myself a few years back (therefore I’m not trying to unfairly lambaste you with any malice). You’ds seem a lot more comfortable playing war games on your video screen, than street fighting in Slavyansk. I’d suspect that if you ever saw severed bodies and children left destitute because of war up close, you’d forsake your contrived hardassed image of a ‘Russian nationalist’ quite soon.

I don’t know anybody that does this trip routinely. Besides business trips, I usually make this trip once a year. Lots of folks in Arizona travel to Rocky point, which is about 3.5 hours away. It’s located on the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) across from the Baja. I haven’t made it there yet, although plan to sometime soon?….

You do give that impression which is why no one takes you seriously. You are all over the place. Defending violently intolerant Islam one day, non-violent Buddhism the next, Taoism the day after, Viking human sacrifice the day after that, and so on. Anything goes in your worldview. With the exception of Catholicism and Protestantism.

If you abandon rationalism completely then you also abandon universal ethics and morality.

Your antipathy towards individualism is also incompatible with your previous post. You can’t be serious about spirituality and not realize that ultimately you find yourself alone in that path: It will be just you and God. Then only God.

Of course. This is a direct result of the great expansion of the highway system back in the 1950′s, many ex-military moving out West, and eventually the marketing of cars fueled by cheap gasoline. Although gas is much more expensive today, it’s become kind of an ingrained right of every American. Why do you think that the ‘Empire’ struck back at the Russians who were capitalizing on higher gas prices? Shale became an overnight sensation. Gasoline prices have stabilized and all is well once again…..(just kidding).

Plenty of Ukrainians have had wonderful careers outside of Ukraine too. Isn’t it a shame that Maria had to leave her homeland in able to make her great imprint in the sport of tennis where she ‘remembers her roots’. A lot of rich Russian oligarchs like to live outside of Russia too (I think that you call one o these places ‘Londonstan’) and ‘remember their roots’ while living the high life far away. Only Karlin is taking an oath to stay put for at least 5 years.

Jack Palance (Walter Palahniuk), a big time Hollywood movie actor also had pride in his ancestry, especially when he stormed out of a hollywood film festival with a whole entourage of guests, when he didn’t appreciate being referred to as a Russian, instead of a Ukrainian:

Next in line for the Russian government’s highest artistic award was Jack Palance. Born Walter Palahniuk in Pennsylvania in 1918, Palance won the Academy Award in 1992 for his memorable portrayal of Curly in “City Slickers”. Palance, proud as a Kozak of his Ukrainian heritage, is chairman of the Hollywood Trident Foundation.

After being introduced, Palance said “I feel like I walked into the wrong room by mistake. I think that Russian film is interesting, but I have nothing to do with Russia or Russian film. My parents were born in Ukraine: I’m Ukrainian. I’m not Russian. So, excuse me, but I don’t belong here. It’s best if we leave.”

Palance and his entourage proceeded to get up and go. He was accompanied by four other guests that included his wife Elaine, and the Hollywood Trident Foundation’s president, Peter Borisow. Palance refused to accept the award, even in private, or to view “72 Meters”, the movie being screened as the festival finale.

Isn’t it a shame that Maria had to leave her homeland in able to make her great imprint in the sport of tennis where she ‘remembers her roots’. A lot of rich Russian oligarchs like to live outside of Russia too (I think that you call one o these places ‘Londonstan’) and ‘remember their roots’ while living the high life

I agree it superficially seems like a strong argument, but then you are ignoring different historical periods of our ancestors. For example, heat was not an issue for the Ancient Russians who built the pyramids,

You Russophobes, hide the true past of Russian civilization (the oldest on Earth)!

Let’s face it: left to themselves Northern Europeans would still be a bunch of primitive human-sacrificing forest tribes.

Btw, here are the greatest literary figures of the two main Northern Europeans powers, Pushkin and Shakespeare. What did they have in common? Both had partial african ancestry. Pushkin’s african ancestry is well-documented. Shakespeare’s african ancestry can be inferred from his looks, his literary creativity, his empathetic portrayal of Othello.

Yes, I drive 400 miles several times a year. It’s mostly because I need the car when I get there. The train is 12 hours.
I hate flying because of the security gestapo.

Also, if no one is available to pick me up, it’s a $60 airport van ride to the house plus a &125 plane ticket but gas for 40o miles is maybe $55. Gas recently went up about 80 cents a gallon because of some environment tax.

You forgot the most important thing (I would rate it #1): the climate. It is most unforgiving and punishing. At least in Canada and Scandinavia you have better living standards. In Russia you have to suffer all your life with 7-month winter and never get at least some compensation for your suffering. And frankly, even big money do not always seem a fair compensation for living in this environment. And they ask why Russians do not smile. Too cold to smile, or you’ll got your teeth frostbitten.

Looks like I’ve hit a live nerve here. I was ‘betting’ to make a point, not to try to enrich myself. If only I could get you to respond so quickly to my requests for fuller explanations regarding Triunism?…

You lived in California for 10 years, so I guess you know what you’re talking about. Maybe I really have got you figured out all wrong. Zhirinovsky is aging and wont be around forever…but you do need to include more information (propaganda) regarding Russian nationalism, triunism etc; lately you can’t seem to distinguish between Russian imperialism and nationalism. They are different aren’t they (from here on in, the Eurasianists will trump you, Anatoly)?

My impression is that British nationalists are highly docile, don’t have good organization, probably thoroughly infiltrated by MI5 (though I don’t buy the theories that this applies to Robinson himself). Doubt much will come of this. Not the first time Robinson will be doing time on some fake charge.

Yes, that’s what I meant ofc, LOL. I want Mr. Hack to provide me his odds, so that I can make some money off him being wrong.

Personally, I estimate there’s a 95% chance that I will still be living permanently in Russia in 5 years time.

Main scenarios in which this might not be the case are:

(1) PutlerZOG finally comes after me with Article 282 or similar crap. I think this is unlikely but not impossible (hopefully I didn’t just jinx that).

(2) I have some major change in worldview – become a convinced democracy promoter, neocon, or decide that “repentant former racist” is a profitable gig. Very, very unlikely, but who knows.

(3) SHTF in Russia politically, such as a Communist revolution, or liberal color revolutionaries come to power and start aggressively purging “apologists” of the regime and/or Russian chauvinists, nationalists. Both scenarios are ofc unlikely in the extreme, then again, stranger things have happened.

No he’s saying that he wants Mr. Hack to put a 5 year time line on his (Anatoly’s) moving back to CA so that Mr. Hack can be definitively proven wrong.

I’ve already conceded. His real game is to wait it out for Zhirinovsky’s demise and then claim his rightful spot as the heir apparent. Start mending your blackshirts folks, there’ll be a new sheriff in town!

Yes, that’s what I meant ofc, LOL. I want Mr. Hack to provide me his odds, so that I can make some money off him being wrong.

You know as well as I, that this whole discussion will be totally forgot within a day or two at most. You want to circle back to this insane discussion 5 years from now? It’s electronic gobbledygook in an existential black hole. Only Averko keeps a running total of ‘debunks’ and ‘cherry picks’ like a WW1 ace pilot.

(2) I have some major change in worldview – become a convinced democracy promoter, neocon, or decide that “repentant former racist” is a profitable gig. Very, very unlikely, but who knows

.

Take heart, there are others that have met the test and have prospered. Look at Albert Spears, ‘the Nazi who said sorry’. Like him you could claim:

“If I didn’t see it, then it was because I did n’t want to see it.

Once Triunism is in full swing though, and the new gulags have to be built to support the plan, you’ll no doubt have to ask yourself these sorts of simlar questions, as Spear did:

“What would have happened if Hitler had asked me to make decisions that required the utmost hardness? … How far would I have gone? … If I had occupied a different position, to what extent would I have ordered atrocities if Hitler had told me to do so?”[152] Speer leaves the questions unanswered.[152]

According to the Afrocentric writers, the legendary Xia dynasty of virtue was actually populated by blacks and therefore subsequent waves of “black genocide” have gradually destroyed the black population. The Qin is presumed to be some sort of admixed people, therefore making the First Emperor a partial black African in some fashion.

Mysteriously, while Chinese history is is well documented due to every order having to be put in writing and delivered by courtier to local provinces, no such mention of black people is ever seen. Because, apparently, ancient people can simultaneously launch genocides while also being unable to comprehend race.

Our Slavic ancestors chose to live here and thought it was quite good for them.

Because the main thing for a true Russian man – is meteorological diversity.
Here is Petersburg 2018 early April
And this is Petersburg on may 13, when only bathing saved from the heat.
Fuck Lisbon, and fuck California you don’t have such cool weather diversity.

I should add, the writer took the liberty of adding photos from what he called “Pacified South” to China. Technically that’s not part of China now at all – it was a part which ancient China once had(which is now Vietnam and several SEA states) but which was lost a long, long time ago. China held onto Vietnam the longest, thus the gene flow.
Most of the other photos as well, except for the Boxers, are all roughly in the same area. The vast majority of China had had fairly consistent gene flow, and the Qing really shouldn’t be considered as “multiethnic” unless “playing various ethnicities against the Han” is the word for that. A far better argument could be made for the sprawling Tang Dynasty.

At any rate, the Chinese remained fairly well-mixed with consistent gene flow even as it absorbed non-Chinese populations. None of it shows any subsaharan legacy, for obvious reasons of distance.

I agree, I usually like cold winters and warm summers. I don’t know if Russian climate would be too much for me, Central Europe is definitely not enough for me. Hungary is better than more moderate climates closer to the ocean. But could be much colder in the winter.

Punjab is not the aryan heartland, Uttar Pradesh is. It is the home of the holiest city of Hinduism: Varanasi. This is where the highest number of Brahmins live. It is impoverished even by Indian standards:

Okay guys, finally some good news from Israel. It looks like Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not giving up their offensive.

Background: every war with Hamas has started the same way: Hamas fires barrages of rockets and says that they won’t stop until demands X, Y and Z are met. The brass of the I Don’t Fight (IDF) proceed to go all over Israeli media and say “oh no, Hamas doesn’t really mean any of those demands, this is just for domestic consumption”. Hamas then continues firing rockets and the Ishmael Defense Forces again say the same thing. At this stage you start hearing obviously frustrated Hamas leaders being interviewed on Israeli radio saying that they really do want war and practically begging the IDF to attack.

Eventually the IDF and government give up and start a war. Fighting Gaza is the IDF’s least favorite thing because it is dangerous for IDF troops, guaranteed to cause a humanitarian crisis for Palestinians (which brings a lot of pressure on Israel) and the IDF has to defeat Hamas without destroying it. To make matters worse, the IDF knows that it is increasingly losing control of its ever more fanatical junior officer corps who are now 40% religious.

Why is the IDF so desperate to keep Hamas in power? Because the IDF had concluded by 2007 that destroying Hamas and then reinstalling the PLO is totally unworkable. Even if the PLO was reinstalled in Gaza, the IDF would have to continue to occupy the region or else Hamas would just overthrow the Israeli approved government once the Israeli soldiers had left again. Basically any Israeli reoccupation of Gaza is likely to be permanent and I am being completely serious when I say there is nothing that the IDF fears more than having to take back Gaza. If the IDF had to choose between a nuclear Iran and reoccupying Gaza, the IDF would without question prefer a nuclear Iran. That is how big a deal it is.

The government, while not as extreme as the IDF, does agree that direct Israeli rule of Gaza should be avoided at all costs.

Iran has been stymied in Syria. They are safe nowhere in the country and everything they invest in it literally goes up in smoke. But Iran can’t retaliate either. It can’t even do fake retaliation because Israel will seize on that to inflict even more pain on them. It can’t use Hezbollah because Nasrallah is his own man and he will never start another war with Israel, even if Iran ordered him to do so.

So that leaves Hamas. Hamas is totally isolated with Iran being really the only friend it has left. Furthermore, the situation in Gaza has become totally untenable with the region having essentially become an open air prison camp thanks to the joint Israeli/Egyptian siege. Hamas cannot afford to lose Iranian support and Hamas has nothing to lose.

It really is perfect from Iran’s perspective. Not only is Hamas the one thing that Israel fears but there is nothing Israel can do to hold Iran accountable for egging Hamas on.

Assuming that Hamas keeps the projectile offensive up, and I’m optimistic that they will, there will be no alternative to an IDF ground invasion. The proceeding bloodbath will further blacken Israel’s international image and force Israel to make a choice: give in to Hamas’ demands or reconquer Gaza.

Which choice with the IDF make? That’s tough to say. The IDF has been so traumatized by the 2006 war that they really don’t want to make any meaningful concessions to Hamas which will (correctly) be viewed by the region as a Hamas victory over the IDF. On top of that, even if Israel wanted to surrender to Hamas’s demands, the PLO, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the US would strenuously oppose such a move.

So it isn’t out of the question that the IDF will just have to reconquer Gaza.

“usually included”: 1000 fools don’t make a wise man. Most of Portugal is very much more influenced by the Atlantic than the Med. And that is the direction the Portuguese have looked since at least the 15th century. Politically the Portuguese have been allied with the English (the “Old Alliance”) and not with any southern European or continental power.

Hamas is totally isolated with Iran being really the only friend it has left.

Are they actually that friendly? I seem to recall that Hamas declared its support for the anti-government jihadis in Syria (not surprising, Hamas is an offspring of the Muslim brotherhood after all). I don’t think that can have pleased the Iranians.

They have been up and down but Hamas is so isolated that they are now almost entirely dependent on Iran. There probably isn’t much love lost between them but unlike Hezbollah, Hamas can’t afford to just tell Iran to go to Hell.

Nasrallah is his own man and he will never start another war with Israel, even if Iran ordered him to do so.

I read the same thing. Which actually shows that Israel probably didn’t lose the 2006 war. It was kind of a draw, and both parties now fear the other, but Hezbollah more so than Israel. So, on balance, despite the appearances and negative political fallout for the then Israeli government, it was basically a success for Israel.

The group Iran controls completely in Gaza is Islamic Jihad. Hamas they just fund, but don’t have direct control over like Islamic Jihad. That’s why they sometimes use Islamic Jihad for its direct responses to Israel.

Israel technically got what it wanted: deterrence and international observers on the border (this ended the skirmishing that had been going on for the previous 6 years). But Hezbollah won the propaganda war which is all that Nasrallah ever aimed for and he said as much.

Also at the time the feeling both within and without Israel was that Israel was basically finished. I remember what things were like in 2006 – 2008, it seemed like the country was just disintegrating. 2006 was such a humiliation that pretty much everybody, even me, expected the obscenely outgunned Hamas to win the 2008 war.

…

More good news! Hezbollah is saying that they will not take an IDF attack on Gaza lying down. Nasrallah is not the type to make idle threats and this is the first time he has ever threatened to attack Israel.

You seem like the one who is typing his comments while crying tbh. Sort of embarassing for you that a tiny number of British conquered and administered your entire subcontinent of hundreds of millions of people and ran it better than the natives for a century.

I knew plenty of people who lived in Israel during those years, although they were mostly occupied with fighting the IDF at the time. The feeling in Hebron and Samaria, at least, was that Israel was done and it was time to create the State of Judea. Maybe your rootless, weak as cobwebs, friends inside the green line felt like all was swell but if that was the case then Israeli chilonim are even more delusional then I realized.

Don’t you remember what those years were like? Israel had the weakest government it had ever had, the IDF boss Halutz was forced to resign because of how bad the army performed in Lebanon and Sderot, Beersheba and Ashkelon were under non stop bombardment for two fucking years while the IDF and government seemed completely unable to do anything to stop the rockets.

W Bush even wrote in his memoirs that he lost faith in Israel after the Lebanon war and didn’t begin to regain it until the 2007 strike on the Syrian reactor.

Again, all those things are completely false. Most of the continent lay in the hands of Local rulers,

The natives had a pretty decent economy considering centuries of continuous warfare (how America doing after 20) Britain eventually wore them down due to a naval blockade & more resources but even the Sikhs defeated the British in battle but were betrayed by the commanders.

only high tier racists (not race realists) think starving millions of people in engineered famines & handing the country over to Muslims & then giving them nukes is running it well.

Isn’t it embarrassing that a small number of Indo Iranian Sintastha invented chariots then replaced 90% of your Cro Magnon master race? Then, just as you were getting on your feet you decided to worship Jews.

Then Slavs took over half your continent & Islam destroyed the only real Empire you ever had.

White Nationalists like to point out Jewish media bias, A Hindu doing the same indirectly helps white Pagans but I guess you’re a jew.

Don’t you remember what those years were like? Israel had the weakest government it had ever had, the IDF boss Halutz was forced to resign because of how bad the army performed in Lebanon and Sderot, Beersheba and Ashkelon were under non stop bombardment for two fucking years while the IDF and government seemed completely unable to do anything to stop the rockets.

In 2006? I was at school, and was not very knowledgeable about Israel, beyond seeing or reading news reports.

However, the view is clearly not accurate that these years (2006-2008) were ‘disintegrating’ in Israel. I have not heard this from anyone, and no-one talks about it as a bad time for the country. The bad years there were 2000-2005.

2006(outside the North)-2008 were years I have never heard anyone complain about as being bad in particular .

We can see the economy was soaring with the fastest growth in 2006, 2007 (and even 2008 was not bad).

I have in friends in Israel who were in combat service in Gaza in the IDF, but not during this time period, but only in 2014. However, clearly the military was receiving renewed funding after 2006.

As for missile attacks. We can see Ashdod and Beersheba were not hit in those years – but Ashkelon and Sderot were.

In 2006? I was at school, and was not very knowledgeable about Israel, beyond seeing or reading news reports.

End of discussion.

Hamas was blasting the south non stop. EVERYBODY thought that Hamas would defeat the IDF if Israel went to war with Gaza. I remember those years very well.

I have no doubt that life for your rootless friends in Tel Aviv was better in 2006 – 2008 then during the intifadah, but the feeling of general malaise was never higher than during those years, even if the security situation wasn’t as bad as it had been.

Hamas was blasting the south non stop. EVERYBODY thought that Hamas would defeat the IDF if Israel went to war with Gaza. I remember those years very well.

Rockets did not hit Ashdod or Beersheba for the first time until the turn of 2009.

Gaza border communities were being targeted, but this was a tiny population area (aside from Ashkelon which was only receiving more modest/infrequent attacks) which how Israel was able to ignore it for years.

I have no doubt that life for your rootless friends in Tel Aviv was better in 2006 – 2008 then during the intifadah, but the feeling of general malaise was never higher than during those years, even if the security situation wasn’t as bad as it had been.

Israel technically got what it wanted: deterrence and international observers on the border (this ended the skirmishing that had been going on for the previous 6 years). But Hezbollah won the propaganda war which is all that Nasrallah ever aimed for and he said as much.

Nasrallah said had he known the Israeli response to the kidnapping of its soldiers, he would never have had authorized the ambush. He clearly wasn’t fond of the experience and wasn’t keen on repeating it.

Delhi is at $$5600, Chandigarh at $4200 compared to Goa’s $7100 which is the highest in India. Bihar with the second largest number of Brahmins is lowest at only $900/year.

Why the huge difference? Was Portuguese rule better than British rule? Are the Brahmins a drag on the economy? If so is it because they are stupid and incompetent? Or because they are corrupt and callous?

You’re an unironic we was kangz who thinks cummies are the only thing in life. Brahmin are not even the business class & use PPP.

Why does either rule have to be better? Is a people who have one of the earliest civilizations meant only to be judged in a manner of which foreigner taught these illiterate brown Pagan savages better?

Get off ur high horse lol. Given the small population & how many white people visit there it’s a surprise it’s not more.

Outside of blatantly bias western msm tropea about India/Hinduism you know very little, but I wouldn’t expect anything much from a nigger.

You’re already beginning from a position of prove your corrupt priesthood is less bad, prove to me why you shouldn’t be a christian & let’s discuss which white christian savage left you with a larger cart of the loot they carried off?

It’s irrelevant what’s the Aryan heartland. (From what I know, in India southern territories have probably higher IQs than northern ones. So the darkies are probably smarter, on average, than the near-European looking ones. But it’s all irrelevant now.)

What is relevant is that Brahmins (or any other castes) are not the same in each state. Brahmins have higher IQs within each particular state than other castes, but they are not guaranteed to be higher IQ than other castes in other states. So it’s possible that Kerala Shudras are smarter than Uttar Pradesh Brahmins, or that the difference is small. But it can be simultaneously true that Uttar Pradesh Brahmins are smarter than Uttar Pradesh Shudras, and that Kerala Brahmins are also vastly smarter than Kerala Shudras.

Also, there are many Jatis within each Varna, so it’s possible that the lowest IQ Brahmin Jati will have lower IQ than, say, the highest IQ Vaishya Jati. I vaguely remember reading that the highest IQ Vaishya Jati in some state was actually better in all measurements (not just IQ but wealth, income, education levels, etc.) than the average of Brahmins in the same state. In any event, it’s certainly possible.

So, India is a collection of thousands of Jatis (subcastes? tribes? ethnic groups?), which can be organized into four Varnas (big castes; actually, five, because of the Untouchables and tribal peoples, who are outside it), and the Varnas have clear differences in averages, any single Jati within the Varna can be higher than the average of a higher Varna. Similarly, the highest IQ Untouchable has probably much higher IQ than the average Brahmin. (Though I doubt any Untouchable group has higher average than Brahmins. Though maybe the highest IQ Untouchable group vs. the lowest IQ Brahmin Jati? Who knows?)

Nasrallah is willing to pay any price to fight Israel. His men are too.

Hezbollah’s problem is that the people of Lebanon are not willing to pay that price. Nas is a politician and he knows that Hezbollah is only able to survive politically as long as it maintains it’s status as a defender of Lebanon against Israel. If Hezbollah is seen as provoking conflict, it is finished.

Nasrallah’s statement was made in direct response to Lebanese who were pissed at Hezbollah for getting southern Lebanon destroyed. Hezbollah itself took minimal damage in the war and the Hezbollah rank and file are ultra eager for another clash with the IDF.

If you knew anything about extreme right in Israel, and it’s pretty clear that you don’t, you’d be familiar with the meme that Israel is really just “the State of Tel Aviv”. The Israeli flag is often referred to as the “Tel Aviv flag”.

In 2006 – 2011, when relations between the settlers and IDF were at their worst, common taunts from the settlers to the soldiers were “go back to Tel Aviv” and ” the Arabs are gonna send you back to Tel Aviv in a body bag”. Tel Aviv is a catch all.

You are every bit as clueless as the chilonim that you worship. You have even adopted their ho hum, everything is fine, attitude that they have about everything.

Tell your secular friends to start dusting off their Polish and German passports. The Torah True are coming and they should enjoy the time they have left.

Britain eventually wore them down due to a naval blockade & more resources

wtf are you talking about. Britain conquered India through defeating Indian princes repeatedly in battle, not through a naval blockade. If anything the Indian princes in the 18th century and Napoleonic Wars had more resources, given that only a fraction of British power was devoted to India. If they did have more resources, it’s due to their own efforts.

Isn’t it embarrassing that a small number of Indo Iranian Sintastha invented chariots then replaced 90% of your Cro Magnon master race?

Get out of bed. Drink a cup of tea. Go out and look at somebody’s garden. Start your own.

I admire the British character in many respects, but it has many flaws. One of these is the tendency Chesterton noted: It is the beginning of one of the blindest forms of Pharisaism when the patriot is content to say, “I am an Englishman.” and which I quoted on another thread in a similar connection: http://www.unz.com/akarlin/sweden-no/#comment-2347529

Go to Portugal. Wear some fancy English shoes (they are beautiful) and lose a little in the casino Sr. Karlin couldn’t enter. It’ll be fun. They have a longstanding British connection so they’ll like you there.

If you knew anything about extreme right in Israel, and it’s pretty clear that you don’t, you’d be familiar with the meme that Israel is really just “the State of Tel Aviv”. The Israeli flag is often referred to as the “Tel Aviv flag”.

In 2006 – 2011, when relations between the settlers and IDF were at their worst, common taunts from the settlers to the soldiers were “go back to Tel Aviv” and ” the Arabs are gonna send you back to Tel Aviv in a body bag”. Tel Aviv is a catch all.

You are every bit as clueless as the chilonim that you worship. You have even adopted their ho hum, everything is fine, attitude that they have about everything.

Tell your secular friends to start dusting off their Polish and German passports. The Torah True are coming and they should enjoy the time they have left.

Tel Aviv has completely non-representative politics of Israel, like generalizing San Francisco to the United States. It’s even a far far more tiny place than San Francisco as well, especially once you exclude Yafo and the blocks of the town where it’s just illegal immigrants.

Tel Aviv is also demographically unrepresentative, with very tiny numbers of Russian and Ukrainian people outside of the tourists.

Go out for evening in Dizengoff Street – the groups of Russians you encounter there are often just rich hipster tourists from Moscow that visit for the nightlife.

But if you said Rishon, Bat Yam, Petach Tikvah – then you would be getting much more representative politics and demographics.

All people I know personally in Israel are right-wing on the political positions (in relation to Israeli politics), and really everyone exists in frustration to the domination of ultra-liberal elite in the country.

Right wing in Israel means “hates Arabs”. But all secular and traditional Israelis would agree to 67 borders in exchange for peace. All secular/traditional Israelis supported the expulsion from Gush Katif. All of them supported the pogrom of Amona. They all support drafting our yeshiva boys.

Only the Torah True extreme right is really right wing. Bibi, Lieberman, Lapid, Livni and Gabai are just different versions of the same thing. They all agree on literally every major issue.

I now carefully read the article, and it seems like incoherent blabber to me. Such a long article, and the author seems to have forgotten the topic. He didn’t even mention the First World War in the article, nor did he write anything about the sinking of the ship itself, or the US entry to the war. The article has nothing to do with the RMS Lusitania at all! He’s just blabbering about some visit to some Mediterranean country or something.

No it’s not. Quite the opposite. You made the generalized claim that upper caste hindus aka aryans are more intelligent than the lower castes. So you need to explain why the states with the most Brahmins are the poorest in India (which is one of the world’s poorest countries to begin with).

It’s not true. There are right-wing people in Israel with a kind of strange love of Arabs (e.g. Yehudah Glick).

But all secular and traditional Israelis would agree to 67 borders in exchange for peace.

It’s not true in more than one way. Many secular people – like a famous one e.g. Ayelet Shaked – are not supporting two-state solution. And many people who support two-state solution, like Lieberman, are not supporting ‘return to 1967 borders’. In fact the mainstream view is for landswaps and incorporation of the main settlement blocks, not return to 67 borders.

Some of the key settlements are majority secular, by the way.

All secular/traditional Israelis supported the expulsion from Gush Katif.

That’s also not true. The most prominent opponent was Bibi – who is secular.

All of them supported the pogrom of Amona. They all support drafting our yeshiva boys.

You are muddling up two completely different sectors. The Religious national sector and the Haredi sector.

Only the Torah True extreme right is really right wing.

It sounds almost like you are talking about the Haredim sector, which does not exist on a left-right spectrum, but in parallel dimension, and has large apathetic or even anti-Israel segments.

If you are referring to the national religious sector. Their views are usually aligned with the secular right public, with a lot of overlap, which is why people like Naftali Bennett tried to do so much Russian-speaking outreach (and failed of course, as they hate his religious packaging).

We in fact are Indo-European & if you’re going to play racial superiority with your Germanic branch we’ll hit back just as hard.

Indo-Europeans were from the Ukraine/Southern Russia (not India, as the previous comment suggested). Indians are mixtures of some mongrelized version of Indo-Europeans from Iran with a prior substrate. I think we know who would win ‘the racial superiority’ game, given that one people is responsible for almost all scientific accomplishments, and a large number of the other still uses the street as a toilet.

You don’t care about details like trade tariffs on Bengal, the loss of standardized artillery post Akbar or anything.

Bengal wasn’t conquered through tarriffs, as the previous comment suggested. Trade could be controlled because Bengal had already been conquered.

You’re likely some old Brit whose daughter ran off with a boy not of his liking so you rant at Indians on the internet.

Funny coming from someone who posts incoherent, semi-comprehensible rambling about pagans and sandals and so on.

I cant believe you actually entertaining that nonsense about black Chinese. Old cameras had issues with capturing contrast and working with shadows and exaggerating both light and darkness especially when outside of a studio. This tended to make faces either bleached white or extremely dark. Different camera, lense, and flash setups today can radically alter skin tones in photographs and the effect was even more pronounced with primitive cameras.

What those photos are actually capturing is not black skin, but rather a tan or insufficient lighting. Unlike say the Irish or Russians who simply turn red when exposed to the sun, the Chinese develope a bronzed tan like this photograph demonstrates.

Layton is currently working on a new book, Piratical States: British Imperialism in the Indian Ocean World, that develops a discourse about piracy that moves beyond the old imperial model, prevalent until the 1970s, that identified the region’s indigenous populations as pirates and its European colonisers as the bringers of law and order.

Wonder why the comments of DFH don’t get hidden, seems Russians will make the same mistake as Hitler.

The British narrative of we rolled in & took everything ignores basically siding with one Prince against another & using mostly native infantry. I’d say Britain has controlled India more since the 1970s than any time before but nobody here will understand that, since nerds/engineers don’t really think on this stuff they tend to just parrot w/e Political axioms they learned as children.

My fault for engaging to be honest

Высший Перун

AK: Probably because DFH is mostly coherent and doesn’t take every thread off topic. However, I think I shortened many of his comments too. I assume that people who read the comments here want to read about Portugal, not India, Jews, and paganism.

That still doesn’t explain why he’s so good at coding and the higher superior Indian race(I am to presume from your comments) seem incapable of something which I assume, is a pretty decent combination of verbal(syntax) and visualspatial(logic) intelligence. So I imagine there must be a reason, could you enlighten us?

“My children are instead being indoctrinated into a neo-Zionist theocracy.”

What is with the way that liberals feel the need to put “neo” before words to make them sound scarier?

“After this psychologist implied I was a lunatic, I decided that the situation in the country was even worse than I thought.” So she began protesting “on the only real estate I could control,” which was her children’s lunch bags. “I sent them to school every day marked up with quotes from Socrates, Mark Twain, Florence Nightingale, Frank Lloyd Wright, Bugs Bunny—or Mary Quant, the fashion designer who invented the miniskirt.” She took pictures of the bags and posted them online.

Uhm…

She posted a video of an end-of-year party in another mamlachti, in which “every song, dance, and speech was about rebuilding Jerusalem.” Other parents shared more videos, including one of kindergarten kids in a secular preschool wrapping shoe boxes in gold foil—“bricks for a rebuilt Temple.”

What are they doing to our children?!?

Thirty years ago, when Waisberg was in public school, about seventy per cent of Israeli students attended the secular stream. Today, just thirty-nine per cent do.

lol

[MORE]

More than two-thirds of Israeli Jews, concentrated in Tel Aviv and on the coastal plain, define themselves as “secular”—wanting buses to run on the Sabbath, for example. But a significant proportion of those people consider themselves “traditional”—perhaps a third of all Jews.

(emphasis added)

Like I said.

It forced the Council on Higher Education to normalize university status for the West Bank’s Ariel College, a settlement school.

Ariel is inside the fence, you idiots. Most people in Ariel supported the expulsion and the Amona pogrom. It is mostly secular. Ariel is a settlement in name only.

It packed the Supreme Court with acolytes, and now seeks to limit the Court’s ability to declare laws that are inconsistent with the Basic Law of Human Dignity—in effect, Israel’s Bill of Rights—so as to be able to expel asylum seekers.

(emphasis added)

Lol! Never gonna happen.

“The country is seventy years old and we are horribly divided,” she said. “But when I hear calls for Jewish unity I get queasy.”

If you aren’t here, you don’t know what it’s like. The American people hate each other far more than Euros can ever imagine. I think a big part of the reason is that Europeans can’t understand how strong American partisan identities are. In America, your partisan affiliation is almost like race.

If you aren’t here, you don’t know what it’s like. The American people hate each other far more than Euros can ever imagine. I think a big part of the reason is that Europeans can’t understand how strong American partisan identities are. In America, your partisan affiliation is almost like race.

@ Anon[101] Close to half the military does (support state secession) like majority of men.

- Jewish opposition to secession comes from being the main beneficiaries of the present corrupt system. Much more complicated for AIPAC to influence independent States.

- Muslim support for secession is Secession = No more ME wars, although the sample size is too small.

- Hispanics tending to support for secession probably has to do with California, and their political power in this new entity.

- Under 30 Whites tending to support secession may be their perception that the present system (their future) as broken.

- Over 50 Whites probably oppose secession because the present system will supposedly pay their pensions.

- The military are almost 50% for secession because 1) they have more loyalty to their Southern home states than they do to Washington 2) they don’t like Progressive meddling in the military -trans – gays etc. 3) they are at the sharp end of ME wars while the initiators/fakers are laughing in New York.

As far as I know, even genetically their Indo-European component is rather small. They might also be actually smarter than Aryan Brahmins.

So do you finally understand my point about Brahmins (or other groups like Sudras or Vashyas) having different IQs across India? Thereby making percentage of Brahmins not a very good predictor of income. There are also other issues our unhinged Indian mentioned (some Indian states still being governed by actual communists, strategic decisions in not developing areas closer to Pakistan, etc.), so your argument is not particularly strong.

At comment #300 it’s time that I weighed in too. You’re a good writer and you have a special affinity for travelogue type commentary. I really like this type of literature, even the classic 19th century type. I loved the photos that you’ve included, but perhaps you included too many of them? Did you take many of these photos yourself (if you did, then you’ve developed a related skill that goes well with your writing style)? Many writers make money at this sort of a gig, and your dialogue reflects the current trend of thoroughly reviewing culinary tendencies. I’m sure that this type of writing is popular in Russia too. Looking forward to your next one when you return from Moldavia (or is it Romania, I get them mixed up at times).

The western part of Brazil, from São Paulo westward, interestingly enough, does not use the constant sh’s and zh’s. The whole of Brazil uses the hard b, d, and g, whereas Portugal and all Spanish speaking counties use the soft ones.

Sure, like it’s the fault of nonwhites that Europe is shouting “Come in– we’re tired of ourselves”. Elites– they s-ck everywhere, in various proportions. “My elites were better than yours 150 years ago” is not a productive approach to fixing the problem. Unfortunately it seems to be the only thing some people (not you, I think) have to feel good about, and that’s sad.

The American Revolution was essentially conducted by an active minority of British subjects in North America. A MINORITY.

The breakdown, I believe, was something as follows:

About 1/3 supported Independence, 1/3 were against it and supported Britain, and the rest, another 1/3, just sat the whole war out without participating.

Meaning that the entire political landscape in the original 13 colonies was profoundly changed by roughly 1 in 3 former British subjects in the self-proclaimed United States, with the other 2/3 having to go along, when everything settled back down.

That 30.8% (!) of all Americans supporting state secession, if they’re telling the truth, should cause everybody to sit up and take notice.

Meaning that the entire political landscape in the original 13 colonies was profoundly changed by roughly 1 in 3 former British subjects in the self-proclaimed United States, with the other 2/3 having to go along, when everything settled back down.

That 30.8% (!) of all Americans supporting state secession, if they’re telling the truth, should cause everybody to sit up and take notice.

That’s a good point, and it’s also worth noting that the US War of Independence was a war (i.e. involving military age men), and according to the chart, 47.4% of the active military (mostly military age men) currently support secession.

No, it's not an English word, that's why I put it in quotation marks. It is, as you know, the Romanian word.
He is from Sibiu, where the first 'hospites' brought by the Hungarian kings, were 'flandrenses', flemish, 'floandări'.

The biggest problem is the the US is a Christian country, and unlike Judaism or Islam, there really is not much Biblical basis for the establishment of a theocracy, Habsburg Spain notwithstanding. I know a thoecratic or ceasaropapic lite US would have its own issues, but are still much better...

The Greeks are descendants of the Ancient Hellenes. It’s just a fact. There could be Nordicist fantasies about the ancient Hellenes being Nordics, but recent genetic studies have confirmed that the Greeks are the closest present population to them.
Regarding Macedonians, the ancient ones we...

The issue is that the richest (big) country in the world is the epicenter of the Poz. This country also has a talent for entertainment, making it even cooler than wealth alone could explain. It’s going to pull everything in its orbit, because people are natural cargo cultists and assume that ev...

Russians say Tshicago, when they have the proper initial consonant in their own language
Hungarians, too, and we also have the proper initial consonant in our own language. It’s just custom. It also sounds idiotic when someone wants to pronounce it too close to the English pronunciation whil...

I was talking about Spain, Franco was able to run a tight ship as long as he was still around, but things started to fall apart in his last years, and fell apart completely when he died after just a few years, which makes me extremely pessimistic that you can keep out moral decadence while avoi...

You didn’t search very thoroughly:
http://www.unz.com/akarlin/anchor-babies-vs-birth-tourism/
Of course this is not a new story, regardless of whether Bloomberg chose to run it a few days ago.
Anyway, we’re happy that you keep informing us of the mainstream perspective. Otherwise we...

For me, the answer involves more questions.
What is the starting point? Uninhabited island or planet, where you chose the colonists? Or existing country? How "enriched?". Can you change a form or government without revolution? ( I suspect the answer is no)
Is it possible to make a cons...

'Sas' is not an English word. Iohannis is a Saxon. Saxons are the Protestant variants of German pest.
Catholic Swabians are equally common (or rather sparse, these day). The former royal family was Swabian.
A smaller populations of Germs, this time migrating from Russia, became Romanian cit...

So, what was the meaning of 'All Rus'? Did include 'what is today Ukraine'?
The 'Church in what is now Ukraine did not join Moscow', because it was in Poland, which was constantly at war with Russia. Joining Moscow would have been considered an act of treason. Not to mention the constant pressu...

Let us have a debate here, are authoritarian regimes basically the only way that a country can avoid getting pozzed? And in order to continue to avoid getting sucked up on cultural degeneracy it needs to maintain an autocracy?

Singapore is an oversized shopping mall more than a country. In many places you don’t have an exit from the metro station except via a shopping mall. The only bright spot is their Botanical Gardens, where you can see all sorts of beautiful orchids without being offered a shopping experience.
...

Is Singapore a real country? It is very famous and economically successful. Doesn't have any oil. Only natural resource is its location and anchorage.
On the other hand, could it exist without China anymore than HK or Macau? It is a massive population sink. Needs to be sustained by Chine...

You are right. I don’t know much about travel to Cuba with the US passport. I know that Americans usually travel there through Mexico or some other Latin American country, all of which have diplomatic relations with Cuba and direct flights to Havana.
I also know that real cigar connoisseurs...

They’re obsessed – obsessed! – over naming conventions for their countries and cities in foreign languages.
And it works, at least among the English-speaking. Even though neither Russian nor Ukrainian has articles at all. In other words, they don't know what they're talking about.
I th...

...they made travel for Russians visa-free, even though Georgia does not have diplomatic relations with Russia since 2008. That’s the first and only example in human history.
The only other case I can think off is Cuba with US: no visas needed, but a slightly different dynamic.

It is not very rewarding to test Y-DNA of long deceased people to find relation to modern populations. A lot has happened in both northern Russia and Sweden since 8th-9th century.
Modern Rurikids match DNA of their ancestors, and match those of people from the Roslagen region of Sweden.
Bes...

But the main UK island calls itself “Great Britain”, so whatever.
This is because Brittany is 'Little Britain'.
In French Great Britain is Grande Bretagne while Brittany is Bretagne. In German Great Britain is Großbritannien while Brittany used to be Kleinbritannien.
Just how like M...

The left bank was not ‘annexed’ by the Moscow state, but came of its own accord, at the Cossacks request.
Of its own accord it entered as a vassal, and was later annexed.
And btw the local Orthodox Church was opposed to this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_Kosiv

There is plenty of proofs and it is well known. Only objection came form a corrupt Yeltsin-era tax official.
So-called Svido proofs on a subject matter
If you knew either Russian or Ukrainian you would see that the proofs all came from Russian sources that had nothing to do with Ukrainians....

The ‘split without permission’ of 1448 was due to the fall into heresy of Constantinople. The Russian Church never accepted the Unia of Florence and deposed Metropolitan Isidore, for dogmatic and doctrinal reasons. It nevertheless, did not ‘split’ forthwith, but tried to bring back Consta...